HomeARC ML 1906
HEALING & REWARDS! DO 1906 2/85
--You Can Keep'm or Lose'm!
[EDITED: "HomeARC note (10/98): The Charter states the Family's current principles, policies and attitudes regarding faith healing and getting outside medical attention, especially in regards to children."]
1. SOON, D.V., I'M GOING TO TELL YOU A SECRET WHICH THE LORD REVEALED TO ME LAST NIGHT! I hate to teach a class where I have to say about some things, "I don't know, I don't understand that, I don't know what it means." I told you last class that I didn't know what this means: "The beast that was, & yet is" & the head that was wounded unto death & did live, & this wound unto death & yet it lived. It speaks of this several times in several of these passages, you study them! (Rev.13:3,12,14; 17:8)
2. AND THE ONE I NEVER COULD GET WAS THE ONE ABOUT THIS BEAST, "EVEN HE IS THE EIGHTH & IS OF THE SEVEN." (Rev.17:11) I never could get that! I never had any Bible Prophecy teacher, book or anything that could explain it, I couldn't get it out of the Bible. I never got desperate enough to find out what it meant until I've just been pleading with the Lord the last few weeks. Because I hate to come across something that I just have to tell you I don't know what it means, I don't understand it, & I have never understood what that meant about "even he is the eighth, & is of the seven."
3. HAVEN'T WE ALWAYS SAID THAT THE ANTICHRIST GOVERNMENT WAS TO BE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE? But it says he is the eighth & of the seven. He is in a sense both the 7th & the 8th, but how is he of the seven? I've always just taken it for granted, "Well, I guess that means because in a way he was the 7th head, now he's the 8th head," but I couldn't even figure out why he's the 8th head! How can he be both the 7th & the 8th heads? Have you figured it out? You tell me!
4. WELL, I NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT & REALLY GOT THE SECRET, BUT I'VE BEEN PRAYING & ASKING THE LORD TO GIVE IT TO ME BEFORE I HAD TO TEACH THIS CLASS! And here I was, we were already into the first part of the 17th Chapter & I still didn't have the answer. Maybe that's why I've been postponing this class, I didn't want to have to teach you the rest of this class without having the answer & have to say, "Well, it's a mystery, I don't know!" Well, in some ways it's still a mystery, I don't know. Don't think I'm going to tell you everything. I don't think the Lord is going to tell us everything either until it's time & we have to know some things. That's why He's revealing so much to you now, because it's time, you need to know, you need to prepare for it, because he's coming soon!--Not Jesus, but the Antichrist!--Next year or maybe even this year!
5. HALLEY'S COMET BEGINS TO APPEAR AT THE END OF THE YEAR THROUGH BINOCULARS, field glasses & telescopes, but they say it will not be visible to the naked eye until either February or March of next year. Maybe that's sort of like the Antichrist! Right now he's on the way, right? He's here!--But he's invisible to the naked eye, to the general public. We don't know who he is, where he is or what he is! He's not made his public appearance on the World scene yet at all as far as we know.--Unless he's going to turn out to be one of these present-day World leaders, & I doubt that. Somebody suggested maybe it was Mubarak of Egypt because he has a fierce face. Well, he couldn't be the one if Jeane Dixon is right about his birthday (February 5, 1962), & I'm inclined to believe her! I'm inclined to believe he's going to be a younger man. But I'm not going to say he isn't, if that's so.
6. BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, THAT NOT ONLY IS HE THE 7TH, BUT THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN HE'S THE 8TH? And here we have also that he has a wound unto death. He exists already, but he has a wound unto death! Get that word "death"! And John calls it a deadly wound, it kills! It has killed him, he is dead!--But then healed!--That is certainly a supernatural miracle that would make the World sit up & take notice that he is a superman! "We've got our messiah, he's also risen from the dead, just like Jesus!"--"A wound unto death", "deadly wound". It mentions it time & time again in some of these passages. And if it doesn't say that, it says, "The beast which was, & is not, & yet is." What does that mean?--He was, he's not, & yet is! Here you have alive, dead, alive again! How can that happen?
7. CERTAINLY THE DEVIL CAN'T RAISE THE DEAD! HE'S NOT A CREATOR OF ANYTHING BUT TROUBLE! HE'S THE DESTROYER! The only power he has is to destroy, he cannot create. You say, "Well, lots of people in false cults get healed, so surely he must create!" But they get healed of what?--The Devil's own afflictions, his own demons, his own illnesses, his own destruction, his own sicknesses! He simply removes the thorn from their side, so to speak, & it heals. God has made this body a marvellous mechanism, the only machine ever known to man that will heal itself! Think of it!
8. DO YOU MEAN ANYBODY EVER GOT HEALED OF DEATH?--YES, JESUS!--AND THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS AT THE TIME OF HIS RESURRECTION!--AND WE WILL! All the New Testament Saints are going to get healed of death at the time of the Resurrection, the next one that's coming, which God lumps together & calls the whole thing the First Resurrection. We'll all be healed of death! Praise God! That's the worst sickness there is! The worst sickness to ever afflict the World is death, brought on by sin & Satan! All the Devil can do is destroy, all he can do is kill. He can't really do anything good. But the Lord uses him for that, for judgement, for destruction! He uses him to destroy people, cities, whole nations, whole empires when they get away from God & disobey God, even a whole World in the days of the Flood, because of the iniquity of the World, the wickedness of the people. He lets the Devil just pour it on! All He has to do is say "sic'm" to that dog, & that dog can bite! He goes after'm & he rends & he tears!
9. "SATAN GOETH ABOUT LIKE A ROARING LION SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR!"--SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DESTROY! (1Pet. 5:8) All the Devil wants to do is destroy you & destroy mankind & destroy this Earth & destroy God's Creation! That's all he wants to do! He's the Destroyer, & he's be-hind a lot of this destruction. Some of these awful wind storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, lava coming out of the bowels of the Earth & spoutin' up into the air! Don't blame it all on God! God may allow it to happen to the people for their sins, but the Devil is His little chore boy, His executioner. I've told you this before, right? The Devil is the one that carries out some of these judgements & punishments. The Lord has made that very clear in His Word.
10. IF YOU RUN AROUND OUTSIDE THE TOWER OF GOD'S PROTECTION, THE DEVIL WILL SCORCH YOU WITH HIS FIRE! If you don't stay close to the Lord in His will, obeying Christ, the Lord will let the Devil touch you! Otherwise He won't let him touch a hair of your head if you're right where He wants you!--Unless He wants to show what faith you've got, like He did with Job, what perseverance you've got, what patience you've got! Even though it seemed Job was a perfect man & thought he'd never sinned & thought he was absolutely righteous & perfect, even his counsellors proved to him that he wasn't perfect, that there must be something wrong or God wouldn't have let this happen! Well, what did he find out was wrong? Why had God let it happen? Job was not perfect. "Let every man be found a liar but God be found true! All have sinned & come short of the glory of God, there is none righteous, no not one!" (Rom.3:4,10,23)
11. THEN JOB WAS A SINNER! HE WAS NOT PERFECT! THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH JOB! WHAT WAS IT?--The very fact that he thought he was perfect, he claimed to be perfect! He protested to God & his counsellors that he was perfect: "Why have You done this to me, Lord? I'm perfect, I've never done a thing wrong! Why did You do this to me?" Job, the epitome of patience, the example held up to both the church & the World as a great sample of the patience of a righteous man, a good man, was actually the World's worst example & the church's worst example & the greatest example God ever gave the World of a self-righteous man! He was a wicked, vile, filthy, iniquitous, disobedient sinner in the eyes of God, by even thinking he was righteous & even thinking he was perfect! Until finally even one of his accusers hit the nail on the head & said: "Can a man be found more righteous than God? You're acting like you're more righteous than God!" (Job 4:17,9:2)
12. A LOT OF PEOPLE ACT LIKE THAT, THE JEWS ACT LIKE THAT: "IF I WERE GOD, I WOULDN'T DO THINGS THIS WAY! I wouldn't treat me like this! Why me?" You heard the song, "If I were King of the World I wouldn't do so-&-so & I wouldn't let this happen & I wouldn't let the poor be hungry!" It was a popular song a few years ago, "If I Were King of the World." There's another one recently I understand, "If I Were King."--A blasphemy! A blast against God! It's a self-righteous blast: "God, I'm better than You are! If I were running the World, I wouldn't allow all this to happen! I'm gooder than You are, God! You're more wicked than I am because You let all this evil happen & all these terrible things happen! I wouldn't do that, God! I'm righteous, I'm good!"
13. THAT IS THE WORST SIN OF ALL, TO EVEN HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA THAT YOU'RE A LITTLE BIT MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN GOD, THAT GOD SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS TO YOU! Do you know what that is? That is the very seed & the root of murmuring! Do you get it? When you murmur, when you complain, when you bellyache about something, if it's something your parents did or wouldn't let you do, then you're telling your parents that you're more righteous than they are!--That if you were boss, you would have let you do it & you would have done better & you wouldn't have done this or you wouldn't have done that!
14. LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE SELF-RIGHTEOUS WITH THEIR PARENTS, WITH THEIR FELLOW WORKERS, WITH THEIR BOSSES! They say, "Well, you know Dad! But I wouldn't have done it that way if I'd been him." That's the way Jethro used to be. He'd say, "You know Dad! I wouldn't do it that way, but that's Dad." That's what Absalom did. He told all the people, "You don't get a just deal from my Dad, my Father on the throne, King David. Come to me! I'll make it right, because I'm more righteous than King David! I am Absalom, your friend! Come to me for redress! Come to me for satisfaction! Come to me with your case & I'll settle it in your favour!"--And he won the hearts of the people. (2Sam.15:2-6) Everybody wants their way, & he just practically told everybody they were right & his father was wrong. So he wooed the hearts of the people away from King David. King David had to make a lot of judgements which were difficult to make & made some people mad. Whenever you have a court case, not everybody's going to be happy with the decision, the Judge is bound to make somebody mad. When you've got a fight or an argument, you can't both be right, somebody's gotta be wrong!
15. LET ME TELL YOU, IF YOU START FIGHTING & ARGUING WITH GOD, I CAN TELL YOU WHO'S RIGHT & WHO'S WRONG! I have that much faith in God, even though I haven't understood some of the things He did to me & let happen to me & let happen to others--I have not understood'm & I still don't understand'm to this day--but I know one thing for sure, God is the One that was right! And no matter what is wrong with them & no matter what they did or didn't do, no matter how good it looked or whatever, somehow they were wrong!
16. POOR PETER PUPPET WHO HAS THAT HORRIBLE BIG LUMP ON HIS THROAT THAT'S STRANGLING HIM TO DEATH, DID YOU KNOW THAT AFTER WE PRAYED FOR HIM THE LORD HEALED IT? It went down to almost nothing! Then all of a sudden it started to grow again. I said to Maria, "Honey, I believe the Lord healed it in answer to our prayers!" I know God didn't fail. I know God cannot do that kind of wrong. [DELETED] [EDITED: "H"]e lost his healing, & now it looks worse than ever! He just sent out a picture for the Magazine with his story, poor fellow, I guess in desperation for prayer & sympathy.--And boy, he needs it & you need to pray for him if he's going to live! Because if that thing keeps going on it's going to choke him to death, that huge big lump! When I was a kid they used to call them goiters & they could cut them off by a little simple safe surgical operation, but the doctor calls this cancer! Whether it is, I don't know, I'm not a doctor, but it certainly looks bad! I'll tell you, his faith looks like death itself, I mean his face!--Maybe his faith too, I don't know. But his face looks like death. And if God doesn't do something quickly, or if Peter Puppet doesn't do something quickly to please God & to remove whatever is offending God about him or his life or his habits or whatever he's doing so that God can heal him again, he's going to be gone soon!
17. I KNOW GOD DIDN'T FAIL! I know that better than I know that I'm sitting here or you're sitting there! You know God doesn't fail! You know God loves! You know God answers prayer! You know God loves Peter Puppet. You know He's sorry for him. You know that He feels for him & it hurts Him, His Heavenly Father, His parent, maybe more than it hurts Peter Puppet. As we used to say when we spanked our children, "This hurts me more than it does you!" It seems I never could believe that when I was getting the spanking, but after I had to spank my own kids, then I realised that it really hurts to have to punish your children.
18. IT HURTS GOD TO HAVE TO LAY AN AFFLICTION LIKE THAT, OR LET THE DEVIL LAY AN AFFLICTION LIKE THAT ON PETER PUPPET! But there is something wrong somewhere, & it is not with God or His healing or His Saints that have prayed for Peter Puppet! Amen? There's something wrong, something that he is doing or not doing that is displeasing the Lord. I wonder if he's gone to the opposite extreme on his diet? Is he just going back to junk food like he used to eat?--Or has he been very careful in keeping his diet & the right kind of foods, clean foods? Does anybody know? I don't know.
19. BUT I KNOW IT'S NOT GOD'S FAULT! I KNOW GOD DIDN'T FAIL, BECAUSE GOD DID HEAL HIM & HE HIMSELF SAYS IT WENT WAY DOWN TO ALMOST NOTHING! Then why did it grow again? Why did the Lord allow it to grow again? Why did the Lord allow the Devil, the Destroyer, to make it grow again? Cancers are of the Devil! If there's anything the Devil can create at all, it's destruction, sickness, illness & evil, that's about all.--So why? And everybody's wondering why, & everybody who gets his article & sees his photo is going to wonder why! "Lord, You let Peter Puppet make this wonderful series, the Luvvets, You let him make these beautiful puppets & tell these beautiful stories with a wonderful Salvation message & good morals & You've allowed them to be blessed by being put on television, & now they're being put on video, NTSC & VHS both, & can be circulated in the Family & around the World, it's being syndicated by some companies now, they're going to sell it abroad & are being blessed! They've been blessed spiritually, financially, productively, fruitfully, everything except that horrible monster that's growing on Peter Puppet's neck!--Why?"
20. I SUPPOSE A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T EVEN WANT TO ASK WHY, THEY'RE AFRAID TO ASK WHY, BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A REFLECTION ON GOD! It looks like the Lord failed. It looks like prayer didn't heal & doesn't heal. So when that sort of thing happens, you know what happens to most Christians?--They start getting very quiet. "Well, just hide it away, put it away, don't talk about it, don't think about it. It must be bad to think that God failed, that prayer failed, that healing failed, so let's just forget about it."--Savvy? Let's face it, isn't that the way you've sometimes felt about some things? God apparently wants to remind you of it for a reason!--Not only to teach Peter Puppet a lesson, but all of us a lesson!
21. "I THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD & I WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!" (Exo.20:3,5) That verse came straight from the Lord, direct prophecy! Is that his trouble? Is that the problem? Is there something he worships more than God? Is there something he loves more than God? Is it his puppets? [DELETED]
22. CAN YOU REALLY SAY THAT YOU'RE DOING IT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, PETER PUPPET?--ENTIRELY FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, MOSTLY FOR THE GLORY OF GOD & BECAUSE YOU LOVE JESUS MOST OF ALL?--Is that why you're doing it, to please the Lord, to please Christ? Is that why you're making the puppets & the stories? I believe that he means to, & I believe that he wants to & I believe that has been his desire & motivation, most of all & most of the time. But if at any time at all he transgressed by loving those puppets more & serving those puppets more, if he in any way has given those puppets more love & time & attention & strength than God, then God is displeased!
23. --OR HAS HE NEGLECTED THE WORD? Has he been too busy making puppets & puppet shows to really live in the Word? God says, "I have exalted My Word above My Name!" (Psa.138:2) There's nothing more important than God's Word because He is the Word! "In the beginning was the Word!" You children quote it to me. (Children: "In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God & the Word was God.") (Jn.1:1) And the Word was God! The Word is God! God is the Word! He is Love! And if you don't have the Word, Beloved, you haven't got God! If you don't have Love, you haven't got the Lord!
24. WHAT DID HE DO? DID HE NEGLECT THE WORD FOR HIS PUPPETS? DID HE NEGLECT HIS PRAYER FOR HIS PUPPETS? Something is wrong somewhere or God would have long ago healed him. There have been too many people praying for him, including me. And he says that God did heal him when we first prayed for him & he first took that stand of faith & he threw away the medicines & the Laetrile & the diet & all that stuff, a ridiculous diet! I mean, there's a sensible diet. There's one extreme one way & another extreme the other way. But a normal, sensible, healthful clean food diet was all he needed, & when he did all that, the Lord healed him. What happened?
25. WHAT HAPPENED, PETER PUPPET? WHAT DID YOU DO THAT CAUSED YOU TO LOSE YOUR HEALING? Let me tell you, you can't lose your Salvation, it is a gift of God! Healing too, in a sense, is a gift of God, but you can lose it by disobedience.--Not your soul, not your Salvation, that is absolutely free, just pure grace by faith. "Not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph.2:8,9) But healing is different & I've told you that before. Once you have been given back your life or your health, you are living on borrowed time that is no longer yours & you owe it every bit to God! You owe your whole life to God! I told you last time about the fellow who saved somebody else's life. He owes his life, in a sense, to that person, because that person saved his life!
26. JESUS DIED FOR YOU, HE SAVED YOUR LIFE, HE SAVED YOUR ETERNAL LIFE, SO YOU OWE HIM YOUR LIFE & EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! And when God heals you, you owe Him that healing & that health that came through that healing. [DELETED] You had better use that life & that healing & that health & whatever it is that God healed, you had better use it for the glory of God & devote it entirely & fully to Him & His use from that time on without reservation, without holding back, without keeping back anything whatsoever, but wholly to God, or God will take it away from you! "And the last estate of the man can be worse than the first!" (Mat.12:45).
27. THE SCRIPTURE SPEAKS OF THIS SORT OF THING TIME & AGAIN, THERE ARE MANY MANY STORIES IN THE BIBLE ABOUT IT & IT'S BROUGHT OUT VERY CLEARLY. Some of these Holiness churches apply it to Salvation, but that's not what God's talking about at all! In Hebrews 6th Chapter & 10th Chapter, there are verses that they love to use there: "That once having had a taste of the Light & then going back, that it's impossible to renew them to repentance!" (Heb.6:4-6) And it says in the 10th Chapter that they have done despite to the spirit of grace, they have trampled underfoot once again the blood of Christ, etc. (Heb.10:26-29) How could you do things like that? They've done something that has been unglorified for the Lord, or against the Lord. They have done something that somebody has seen & which has been a stumblingblock, something which makes them a stumblingblock, which is a bad testimony, a dandy bad example. I'm not saying that Peter Puppet has done this, but I'm just saying how people lose their healing.
28. WITH THAT HEALTH, THAT NEW LIFE, THAT HEALED MEMBER, THEY HAVE GONE OUT & FORGOTTEN WHO THEY OWED IT TO, forgotten Who they owed that health to, that life to, that healed member, & they have used it for the glory of the flesh or the glory of self, or the glory of the opinions of men, or selfishness, or their own ideas, or their own disobediences!--Misused the miraculous, supernatural, eternal Life that God has given! It is eternal! The kind of Life God gives for healing is something which comes from His eternal Life to heal your physical body, your fleshly earthly life. It's supernatural, it's miraculous, it's Heavenly Life, it's Godly Life, it's God's Own Life! Into that body of Adam which was nothing but mud, dust, dirt & water, He breathed into him the breath of Life, God's Life, & man became a living soul! (Gen.2:7)
29. WHAT'S A SOUL?--YOU ARE A SOUL!--YOU ARE THE UNION OF FLESH WITH SPIRIT! Your flesh plus God's Spirit equals a soul! There's a lot of argument & difference of opinion on this difference between body, soul & spirit & some things Paul said make it difficult. But all you have to do is read that chapter of Genesis & there it is plain as day! There was Adam, fully formed, complete, flesh, the works, but still dead as a doornail! But God breathed into him the breath of Life & man became a living soul! Till that time he was a dead flesh mud piece of garbage, a dead body, & if God hadn't breathed Life into him he would have soon stunk! He would have stayed dead & rotted & gone back to the dust from which he came. But God breathed into him His marvellous Life! You don't want to call it eternal life, it's not going to last forever, that's for sure, not this soul life, not this fleshly life as we know it today, but He's going to give you eternal Life if you receive Him--& He has because we have!
30. BUT IN A SENSE, HEALING IS THE LIFE OF GOD THAT'S GIVEN TO YOU, A BIT OF GOD'S LIFE, a little more of the breath of life He's breathed into that injured arm or that broken heart or that healed member or that healed neck! [DELETED]
31. AND THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THAT IN THE SCRIPTURES, IT SEEMS THAT ONCE THAT'S HAPPENED, IT IS DIFFICULT TO GET IT BACK AGAIN! I gave you the verses in Hebrews 6 & 10 if you want to study them sometime. And there's a place where it says, "My Spirit will not always strive with man." (Gen.6:3) There comes a place with some people where they pass the point of no return, like Deborah. I really would be surprised if she repented & got right with God. Maybe if God gives her enough afflictions [DELETED], maybe she'll finally turn back to God, I don't know. God will put the pressure on in all kinds of ways.
32. BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVE GONE TOO FAR! John says, "There is a sin which I say you shouldn't pray for, it is a sin that is unto death." And he said, "There is a sin that's not unto death," you can pray for that. (1Jn.5:16,17) But there's a sin that's unto death, & it doesn't mean like the Holiness people say, that it's unto Hell or you lose your Salvation, it just means that God can no longer trust you with human, fleshly life & He has to take it back & take away what He gave you, because you misused it & abused it & disobeyed Him! [DELETED]
33. [DELETED] [EDITED: "Peter Puppet"] has either got to get healed quick or he is going to die! [DELETED] You say, "Dad, you're really pretty rough on people!"--Well, so is God!
34. HE WIPED OUT A WHOLE GENERATION OF MILLIONS, FIVE OR SIX MILLION JEWS OUT ON THE SINAITIC DESERT BECAUSE OF THEIR MURMURING & PRETENDING TO BE MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN GOD! "We wouldn't have done this, God! Why did You do this to us, God? We would have been gooder than You, God! We're gooder than God!"--And God was furious with them, knowing how wicked & how vile & imperfect & iniquitous their wicked, black, evil hearts were, just through this self-righteousness! No matter whether they kept all the other commandments & all the rigmarole of the tent & the tabernacle & all the worship & all that, the law of Moses, it didn't matter! If they thought they were more righteous than God & they were holding it against God because God didn't do this or didn't do that, or "God doesn't heal me, I'm holding it against God now," that very attitude can kill you! God hates that attitude almost more than anything else! It is self-righteousness, it is accusing God of unrighteousness! "Can a man be found more righteous than God?"--No! Never! No matter what God does, it's more righteous than anything man could ever do!--And no matter what man does, it's never as righteous as God is!
35. SO DON'T ACCUSE GOD, DON'T BLAME THAT THING ON GOD, IT'S NOT GOD'S FAULT! He may have let it happen again, grow again or whatever it is--in your life, mine or someone else's--He may have even let the Devil do it as punishment to you, as child-training, as chastening to try to make you learn a lesson & repent of your sins & repent of that wickedness & iniquity & that fault you have or whatever it is & get right with God & begin to please God & do right & use that healing & use that body for His glory in absolute obedience & absolute dedication, wholly dedicated unto God, which is your reasonable service!--Your body presented to God as a living sacrifice, holy, & in this case also entirely, wholely, W-H-O-L-E-L-Y! (Rom.12:1) If you don't do that, He can take it away, you can lose it.
36. AND FROM WHAT I GATHER FROM THE WORD, IT SEEMS THAT IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO EVER GET IT BACK THE SECOND TIME, BECAUSE GOD HAS LEARNED THAT HE CAN'T TRUST YOU WITH IT! It's like backsliding. [DELETED] There are some like Deborah whom He has allowed to go back so far & even write a book to be a horrible stumblingblock to others. Why He ever allowed Deborah to write that book & get it out, I don't know, but I've suggested to you that apparently there are a lot of people who still haven't taken a stand & God is still trying to divide the sheep from the goats. And that book is going to be the divider! They've got to take a stand for it or against it one way or the other, they can't be neutral any more.
37. THE SYSTEM WON'T LET'M BE NEUTRAL, & GOD WON'T LET'M BE NEUTRAL! Let me tell you, when God won't let you be a neutral, you'd better not try! There's no such thing as neutrality with God! Jesus said, "You're either for Me or you're against Me, & he that is not for Me is against Me!" (Mat.12:30) Thank God He also said, "He that is not against Me is for Me!" (Mark 9:40) Maybe that takes in that class of people we've been studying about, the good people who are trying but just don't know Jesus. Oh, I came across some choice verses about that too, I just can hardly wait to tell you about it, but I've already preached too long this morning. But I'll tell you, I got off on this other subject & it's an important thing!
38. YOU HAD BETTER PRAY FOR PETER PUPPET [DELETED] OR HE'S NOT GOING TO LAST VERY LONG & there are not going to be very many more Luvvets unless the rest of them can carry it on without him! You children love the Luvvet videos, you like & appreciate them & enjoy them, well, Peter Puppet was the guy who really was responsible for getting those started & sacrificed & worked hard to do it, & now he's dying! He's got a great big lump on his throat that's choking him to death! God healed it once, but will God heal it again? I don't know. (Maria: Did he ever testify to that healing?--If so, it wasn't anything that was very strong or impressive because I can't remember it.) I was shocked when I read in this article he first sent us how the lump had almost disappeared because I'd never heard he'd been healed! How come we never heard about the healing? Four months after I sent him the Letter "Trust God," he wrote saying he was feeling stronger & healthier & his breathing trouble had stopped & that he believed the cancer must have stopped growing, but why did we never hear about his healing, that the growth finally almost completely disappeared? That's another very important point. Oh, how my Mother used to stress this!
39. ONCE GOD HAS HEALED YOU, YOU HAD BETTER NEVER FORGET TO TESTIFY & TALK ABOUT IT & GIVE GOD THE GLORY--not the doctors or the medicine--& tell everybody how wonderful it was, what a miracle God did to heal you & constantly testify to your healing! Because if you don't give Him the glory or you don't constantly thank Him & praise Him for it, God will take it away! We never even remember hearing he'd been healed! We were shocked when we read this testimony that the lump had gone down to almost nothing! We never heard that there had been any great improvement. I kept asking you, "How's Peter Puppet?" "Well," they said, "he's some better, he's been a little bit better," etc., nothing we could interpret as a miraculous healing. I never heard any glowing testimony, no photo with the thing almost down to nothing.--Did you? Maybe he was hoping to wait till he was sure it was going to stay gone before he gave God the glory & got excited about it.
40. SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE THAT, THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT GOD IS REALLY GOING TO DO IT, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO TESTIFY THEY'RE HEALED UNTIL IT'S ALL GONE. But Peter Puppet's was virtually all gone & he still didn't testify.--At least not to us. Before my Mother was even healed she began thanking God for the healing, lifting up her hands & saying, "I give glory to God!" "Abraham, looking at his own body as good as dead, yet gave glory to God, knowing that God was able to accomplish that which He had promised!" (Heb.11:11,12) Was Peter Puppet waiting until it was all gone so he could take a real good picture without anything there, to brag that God had healed him? Why didn't he give us the information or give us the photos to show how much God had healed him? If you don't even thank God for partial healing or even before you're completely healed, you're not going to get it! If you don't even thank Him for getting better & being partially healed, He's not going to finish the job!
41. [DELETED] He should have launched out by faith & written us a strong letter of testimony telling how marvellously God had healed him! But now his face looks like death itself! [DELETED] So if you still want the Luvvets, you'd better pray for Peter Puppet, amen? Okay, God bless you, I've kept you too long already, but that's the Truth, Beloved!
42. IN SOME CASES GOD IS A HARD MAN! I can be an old softy & a pushover sometimes, but I can get tough with you too, right? God's the same way, & we're to be like Him. He can be merciful, He can be forgiving, He can be loving, He can be sweet, kind, good, patient & just wait & wait & wait for you to repent & do better, etc., but finally, that's when God moves fast! If you don't repent & you don't get right with God & obey God & finally do what He wants you to do, dedicate your life to Him & give all to Jesus & serve the Lord & obey & please Him, especially if you get to the point where you're a poor testimony & a bad witness & a bad advertisement for God, He can--Bang!--Knock you out completely so that you are no longer a stumblingblock & a bad testimony & bad example!
43. GOD CAN BE A HARD MAN, HE CAN BE SEVERE IF YOU DON'T APPRECIATE HIS PATIENCE & HIS MERCY & HIS LOVE & HOW LONG HE'S WAITED FOR YOU TO REPENT & DO RIGHT! He can knock you in the head & say, "Be done with it, I'm sick of you!" Some of these people in the Bible, they had a little bit of everything, & yet they went back on it, back on God. Either they were saved & they were just disobeying God, or they weren't saved at all. God says of some of them that it shall be impossible to renew them to repentance, they have gone too far! They have gone past the point of no return! You say, "But God's mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, it endureth forever!" Yes, God's mercy does, but you don't!--And you won't if you don't accept it, if you don't receive it & if you don't thank God for it! You won't last forever in this World, His mercy will outlast you & He'll have to let you go down the drain! Do you get it?
44. [DELETED] [EDITED: "G"]rumblers, malcontents, complainers, murmurers, God slaughtered millions of them in the desert of Sinai & only let their young children go into the Promised Land!--Only those under 20 years of age, think of that, just the teenagers & the children! Some of you didn't know that? It was only the teenagers & the children that inherited the Promised Land!--Not all of their grumbling, griping, bellyaching, complaining, murmuring parents, just like some of yours! I won't say they went to Hell, but I think that probably a lot of them did. But God certainly didn't let them enjoy the Promised Land, He let them die! [DELETED]
45. I COULD ALMOST SAY THAT ONCE YOU'RE HEALED YOU'VE ALMOST GOTTA EARN YOUR HEALTH FROM THERE ON! You've got to give it to God completely or you'll lose it! God will judge you from then on by your works, & He will reward you according to your works & every deed done in the flesh & every word you speak, & His Word says so! (Mat.12:36,37; 16:27; Rom.2:6) Did you get it? You'll be held responsible for every idle word & every idle deed! He'll judge you according to your works! "What do you mean, Dad? You mean after we're saved & filled with the Spirit, God's still going to judge us according to our works?--Send us to Hell?"--No! Not to Hell, but He will judge you. A lot of the places where it says "damned" in the Bible, "they shall be damned," it does not mean sent to Hell, contrary to what the church wanted to make you think. It means [DELETED] judged or punished severely [DELETED], even though you're saved!
46. SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SHOCKED WHEN I'VE TOLD THEM I BELIEVE JUDAS WAS SAVED! Certainly he must have believed. Why else would he have gone out & hung himself & had such remorse to know what a horrible thing he did unless he believed? Some people are shocked when I say I think King Saul was saved! He had been a man of God, he had once pleased the Lord, God Himself chose him to be King! But then he went his own way, just like some people. He kept disobeying God & didn't use the life & the power & the Kingdom that God gave him completely for the glory of God & didn't give God the complete credit for it all. So God took both his life & his Kingdom & even his family from him & gave it to a man, who though not perfect & also a sinner, gave God the credit & the glory for everything--David--a great encouragement to all of us sinners!
47. I ALWAYS FIGURED IF GOD COULD FORGIVE EVEN AS BAD A GUY AS DAVID, HE SURE COULD FORGIVE ME! I figured he was worse than me. I never committed murder, I'd never stolen another man's wife, I'd never done all the horrible things David did. I think King David's been an encouragement to a lot of people, hasn't he to you?--To know how much mercy God has & how much forgiveness He has, how good He can be if you'll really repent! [DELETED] [EDITED: "D"]on't forget that David got punished! He lost all of his wives except Bathsheba! In fact [DELETED], Absalom pitched a tent on his father's palace roof & fucked all his father's wives in the sight of all Israel, to defame his father & humiliate his father & to show he had contempt for his father & his wives! (2Sam.16:22)
48. DAVID LOST HIS FAVOURITE SON, ABSALOM, & HE LOST THE BABY BOY THAT WAS THE FIRST-BORN OF BATHSHEBA. He prayed & fasted for many days but God refused to answer the prayer to save the little baby. He said, "You will go to him"--meaning to Heaven with him some day--"but he will not come to you." (2Sam.12:23) God was going to take him. He took his wives, took his throne, took his home, his kingdom, his people, his army, everything!--And David left the kingdom walking with nothing in the World but Bathsheba on the one hand & little Solomon in the other hand, about seven years of age, & only 600 men out of the thousands upon thousands of the army of Israel! (2Sam.15:18) He lost it all! David had to suffer punishment in the eyes of all the people, all Israel, to show the people that he had sinned against God & to show the justice as well as the mercy of God! Do you understand?
49. HE SAID, "THEM WHICH SIN BEFORE ALL, REBUKE BEFORE ALL, THAT OTHERS ALSO MAY FEAR!" (1Tim.5:20) If your sin is a private sin, God will forgive you without publicly embarrassing you. But if you have committed sins that everybody knows about, everybody knows you're guilty of & you sin before all & it's been a sin that has hurt others & a sin which has hurt the faith of some & has been a bad testimony, caused others to stumble, God is going to have to punish you before all! He's going to have to humiliate you & punish you so that everybody that knew about your sin will know that God is dealing with you & God is punishing you.--To know that God is just, as well as merciful, & He will not let you get away with it unless you repent & change & make it right with both God & man, the congregation.
50. SO GOD HAD TO LET DAVID SUFFER BEFORE ALL ISRAEL BECAUSE HE HAD SINNED BEFORE ALL ISRAEL, he had lied before all Israel, he had murdered men before all Israel, he had stolen wives & committed adultery before all Israel! So God had to let the same thing happen to him. He had to reap what he had sowed, & in some ways many times over. When you sow a crop, don't you reap more than you sow? You sow a handful of grain & every one becomes a stalk with lots of grains on it. That's the horrible thing about sin, if you sow sin, you reap what you sow & a Hell of a lot more! And that's what a lot of people are suffering for today, including some Christians, including the World, including nations!
51. THINK OF THE REAPING THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS GOING TO REAP, CONSIDERING ALL THE HELL &THE DEATH & THE DESTRUCTION & THE SUFFERING & THE POVERTY THAT THEY HAVE SOWED THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD! Why are they so God-damned rich?--It's because they've made the rest of the World so God-damned poor so that they could be rich!--Just the opposite of what Jesus did. Jesus became poor that we through His poverty might become rich! (2Cor.8:9) The World has become poor because the United States of America has made itself rich through their poverty!--Not paying them enough for their products, not giving them what their labour is worth, refusing to buy their products even when they're dirt cheap & putting big taxes & tariffs on'm so their people won't buy'm!
52. MY, WHAT A REAPING AMERICA IS GOING TO GET! I'LL TELL YOU, I DON'T WANT TO BE THERE WHEN IT HAPPENS! God is just to give them & let them reap even many times over what they have sowed! If they even reap as much as they sowed, that's bad enough, but when that whole nation gets just about wiped out with the most horrible destruction this Earth has ever known, & their old men who committed some of the sins, & women too & even their wicked children that they have, get wiped out or maimed or burned or horribly afflicted by the horrible monstrous war that they're going to precipitate one of these days, they're going to reap what they sowed, many millions of times over!
53. THANK GOD, THAT'S THE WONDERFUL THING ABOUT GOOD WORKS & THE GOOD THINGS YOU DO & THE SERVICES YOU PERFORM FOR THE LORD & THE WORKS YOU DO FOR GOD, the life & strength & energy you spend for the Lord & for others! You're sowing good things now, you're sowing good deeds now, right? You're obeying & doing good things for people, good things for the Lord, devoting your whole life to Jesus, right? Do you know what He's going to do? You think you're sowing quite a lot, all that literature you've sowed & all those souls you've won & all those people you witnessed to & all that FFing you did & all the rest, "Boy, Lord, I really did a lot for You, I did a lot of work for You! I've done a lot for others."--It is almost nothing to what God is going to do for you in return!
54. "EYE HATH NOT SEEN, EAR HATH NOT HEARD, NEITHER HAS IT ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN"--EVEN INTO HIS IMAGINATION! (1Cor.2:9) You think my pictures of Heaven are too exaggerated?--They're probably not exaggerated enough! I'm sure they're not beautiful enough! They're not gorgeous enough! The pleasures I depict are not enough! You can't even imagine what God has laid up in store for you! He says, "But the Spirit hath revealed it unto us!" (1Cor.2:10) You can know about it, He's revealing it to us with a new poster almost every day, praise God?--Much more than you ever sowed, much more than all the good you ever did! God is going to bless you abundantly, rain it down from the windows of Heaven so there shall not be even room enough to hold it, even if you give your tithe!--Pressed down, shaken together, running over so you can't even hold it all! (Mal.3:10; Luk.6:38) We've had so many blessings, we've got things stacked up from here to South Africa to the U.S.A. that we've had to leave behind, & here we land in another place & He piles on more & we have more things to get rid of every time we have to forsake all! He's poured out such blessings we don't have room enough to hold it, especially when we leave!--Ha!
55. YOU THINK YOU SOWED A LOT?--YOU HAVEN'T SOWED ANYTHING COMPARED TO WHAT GOD'S GOING TO LET YOU REAP & all the good & all the blessings & all the Heaven & all the pleasure & all the palaces! Oh, you have no idea of what God's got in store for you, much more than you've sowed, far more! You sowed one little life & out of your little life have come thousands, perhaps millions of Salvations & new lives for the Lord that you're going to meet in Heaven! Think of that!--Not just the ones you witnessed to & passed lit to & personally won to the Lord, but the ones that you have been instrumental in helping to win & helping others to win!
56. YOU SITTING HERE TODAY IN A SELAH WORLD SERVICE UNIT DON'T DARE GO ON THE STREETS, don't dare pass a piece of lit, don't dare witness in any way outside of this house to people in any way that they would identify you. But you could always be a Christian, you could talk about God & the Bible & Jesus & Salvation, don't misunderstand me, just so it's not in such a way that you sound like something peculiar or different from church people, because some church people do that too. I'll admit they're kind of peculiar church people who do witness & who win souls & litness etc., but if it's really important & necessary & you think this is an opportunity where you really need to talk to somebody about the Lord, my God, I'm not going to tell you not to do it!--If you can do it in such a way, just something you say that makes'm think about the Lord, just a smile that makes them know that Love exists, do it!
57. BUT YOU PEOPLE SITTING RIGHT HERE WHO CAN NEVER PASS A PIECE OF LIT OR HARDLY WITNESS OR HARDLY WIN SOULS OUTSIDE OF THIS BUILDING, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WITNESS TO BILLIONS OF SOULS & THE WINNING OF MILLIONS OF HEARTS TO JESUS & the sending of thousands of missionaries into the field without ever leaving this building! You know why, don't you?--Because you make it possible for them to carry on & for me to carry on!--Even way past time! I'm sorry, it's late, but I just had to get that off my chest. I just can't tell you what a great reward you have in store for you! You've not only won souls yourself & witnessed & litnessed yourself, & now postering & tapenessing & all the rest which you haven't had a chance to do & most of you here can't do, but you are going to have a share in every soul the Family has won & every person they've helped to Heaven, & every blessing, every glory, every reward!
58. BECAUSE "THEY WHICH STAND BY THE STUFF SHALL RECEIVE EQUALLY WITH THEM WHICH GO FORTH TO THE BATTLE!" (1Sam.30:24) You're going to be blessed, you're going to be rewarded, you're going to be honoured & given shine by the Lord just as much as the people out there on the streets passing lit & witnessing & winning souls on any field in the World! You have a share in it, because you are standing by the stuff for them!
59. ALSO THE PEOPLE WHO HELP SUPPORT OUR MINISTRY, EVEN SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO COULDN'T MAKE IT ON THE FIELD but have gone back home & gone to work at a job & are giving heavily, sacrificially to support you & me & the missionaries, they are going to share equally with those who are on the battlefront! You say, "Dad, how could they? They were backsliders, they went back, they couldn't make it on the field!" Well, maybe they just didn't have it, maybe they just weren't the kind that would make a good witness or a good missionary. Maybe they can do better at making money, maybe they can do better at a job like that and support people that know how to witness. Every army has to have supporters.
60. BUT EVERYBODY THAT HAS A HAND IN ANYTHING THAT IS A HELP TO THOSE MISSIONARIES & WITNESSES & LITNESSERS & TAPENESSERS & POSTERERS & whatever they are, every one that has a hand in any of that witnessing & any of that soul-winning, including you sitting right here, are going to share in the rewards for every soul won! And of course the greatest reward of all is when you see those people in Heaven, when they come & hug & kiss you & thank you for helping to make that poster, helping to make that tract, helping to type those Letters, helping to print them, helping to make it possible, feeding those who do, mopping their floors, cleaning their toilets, scrubbing their dishes, cooking their meals! You have just as much of a share as the people that go forth to the battle on the streets & door-to-door & store-to-store, & you will share equally in the reward, just as much as they will! Isn't that encouraging? That oughtta cheer you up! Smile! You're just about to go off candid camera! GBY! Well, the Lord's always got His camera on you, His candid camera, watching what you're doing. We used to sing, "There's an all-seeing Eye seeing you, seeing you!"
61. GOD'S CAMERA DOESN'T MISS A THING! HE'S RECORDING A VIDEO OF YOUR LIFE, OF EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO & EVERYTHING YOU THINK, the whole thing, & some day you're going to reap the rewards for it all, both good & bad. Some are going to rise to shine like the stars with everlasting glory, others are going to rise to shame & contempt! (Dan.12:2) They might almost be ashamed they had to go to Heaven, I don't know, to face all the rest of us that gave our lives to Jesus & served the Lord full time. They're certainly going to be ashamed, the Bible says so, & they're even going to suffer contempt for their failures & disobediences that resulted in trouble for us & trouble for souls! Think of it!--Not just all the wicked & the unsaved that go to Hell, but even the people that go to Heaven!
62. YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY! YOU'RE GOING TO CRY! YOU'RE GOING TO WEEP IN HEAVEN! How do I know?--Because it says God's going to wipe away all your tears! (Rev.21:4) He's going to forgive you. There are probably going to be things you're going to be sorry for that you weren't even sorry for here before you died, that you didn't even realise you had to be sorry for. There's going to be a lot of straightening out Up There! It's maybe going to take years to straighten out a lot of things, going around apologising to people and thanking people and getting things right. Oh, there are so many things that are going to go on Up There that you never dreamed of! It's not all going to be floating around on flowery beds of ease and clouds playing a harp! You are going to make things right at last, apologise, thank, have a chance to straighten everything out, wipe away the tears!
63. BUT SOME ARE STILL GOING TO BE ASHAMED FOR THEIR FAILURES--TOO LATE!--Too late to undo, too late to save the souls they could've saved, too late to accomplish what they could've accomplished! It's going to be too late. Well, thank God there are still going to be a few people they can work on even in the New Earth. During the Millennium and New Earth some of them are going to be able to build up some restitution and do some repenting, and I think there are going to be a lot of church people working like everything to make up for all the witnessing they didn't do now! They're going to be doing it during the Millennium and even on the New Earth, think of that!
64. BUT YOU'RE GOING TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERYTHING, BOTH GOOD & BAD! You're going to get credit for the good & you're going to feel anguish & some sorrow for the bad. But eventually, thank the Lord, He's going to wipe it all away & wipe the tears away & there will be no more pain, sorrow or death! TTL? It doesn't say there's not going to be any when you get There, but eventually. PTL!
65. I THINK A LOT OF US ARE GOING TO BE SORRY WHEN WE SEE JESUS & REALISE HOW UNRIGHTEOUS WE ARE & HOW BAD WE WERE & WHAT MISERABLE FAILURES WE WERE COMPARED TO THE LORD & HIS LOVE & HIS GREAT HEART! Amen? I tell my wife almost every day what a mess I am, what a failure I am! I'm not near what I maybe might have been if I'd have done everything to please the Lord & done everything right. I'm sure I could have been better. But nobody's perfect, not even me. I'm probably the most imperfect of all! But at least I'm trying, & I'm trying to get you to try, amen? We may not be the Christian Endeavour Union, but we're the Christian Tryers Union anyhow. We're not trying to get saved, we're just trying to serve the Lord!--So keep it up! Praise God?
66. OH MY GOODNESS, I HAVE REALLY STRETCHED IT OUT TODAY, I'M SORRY! But that'll kind of make up for the days when you didn't have any classes, okay? GBY! ILY! Let's pray! We've gotta quit! My goodness, it's your lunch time! Shall we pray the King's Prayer that Jesus taught us to pray? (Prays the Kingdom Prayer) Lord do bless & keep these & make'm a blessing as they go, in Jesus' name! ILY! PTL! That was a long sermon, two-&-a-half hours. [DELETED] ILY! GBY! Thank you for your patience, but it's what the Lord gave & I'm not sorry I gave it!--Amen? GBAKY busy for Him, in Jesus' name, amen!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
