Gospel Trumpeter 2000.July

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"For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound,who shall prepare himself to the battle?"

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This periodical carries no subscription price; however, it

is partially maintained through the gifts and offerings of its

readers, with the balance of the expenses being paid by

the local congregation.

PRAYER: If you need prayer, please phone or write:

Roger Decker, Pastor83 Decrow Ave.Newark, OH 43055

Email: [email protected]: 740-344-2543 or 1-888-730-0461Fax: 740-344-4737Print Shop Phone: 740-345-1312

This monthly religious journal is published for the benefit of theChurch of God universally. It is our supreme purpose to reach the

world for Christ through the printed page. Our burden is to reveal

the truth of God's Word to all mankind, to expose sin and error, war

against apostasy, and to eradicate the longstanding traditions of

men that have no biblical foundations.

Brot he r Ro ge r L. De cke r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E ditorWorkers Too Numerous to Mention

THE CHURCH OF GOD BELIEVES IN:

A personal God (John 4:24)

A divine Christ (John 1:1, 14) An infallibly inspired Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17)Salvation from sin (Matt. 1:21)The new birth (John 3:3, 5-7 A holy life (Luke 1:73-75; Titus 2:12)

Sanctification (1 Thess. 5:23)Unity of God's people (John 17:21, Eph. 4)Divine, physical healing (James 5:14-16)The ordinances (Matt. 28:19-20; John 13;

1 Cor. 11:23, 34)Eternal life (Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:43)

The Trinity (1 John 5:7, 8)

SOME SPIRITUAL FACTSPERTAINING TO THE CHURCH

Jesus organized it (Matt. 16:18)On a good foundation (Eph. 2:20; I Cor. 3:11)

Christ governs it (Eph. 1:22-23; Isa. 9:6)God admits members (I Cor. 12:13-18)Sin puts you out of it (Rom. 11:22; Ex. 32:33)The saved only are members (John 15:2-6)Membership is offered to all (Rev. 22:17)Final rewards (Rev. 20:12-15; 21:3-4; 22:14)

Bible name of the Church (Acts 20:28; Gal. 1:13; John 17:11)

We reserve the right to edit and/or decline any material for any

reason. Not responsible for unsolicited articles or items.

CONTENTS

Faith That Will Not Quit . . . . . . . . . . . 3Saul's Journey to Endor . . . . . . . . . . . 7Especially for Young People . . . . . . . 14Is Revival Needed in Your Heart? . . 16The Need of Having Invincible Faith . 19Stain on the Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Vol. 30 July 2000 No. 7

Guest Editorial

Cherubims and the Way ofthe Tree of Life

Part 2 of 4

Genesis 3:22-24 reads: "And theLORD God said, Behold, the man isbecome as one of us, to know good andevil: and now, lest he put forth his hand,and take also of the tree of life, and eat,and live for ever: Therefore the LORD

God sent him forth from the garden of

Eden, to till the ground from whence hewas taken. So he drove out the man; andhe placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a faming swordwhich turned every way, to keep the wayof the tree of life."

There are many misconceptions

concerning these Cherubims spoken

of in verse 24. Webster's New World

Dictionary gives this definition of the

word cherub: "any of the second

order of angels, usually ranked just

below the seraphims." In theprevious articles on seraphims, we

found that, according to the Bible,

seraphims are not angels. You may

ask, "Does the Bible teach thatCherubims are angels? and Where

does the Bible teach that there are

ranks and classes of angels?" The

truth of the matter is that the Bibledoes not teach that Cherubims are

angels or a class of angelic beings. In

reality, the Bible does not teach

ranks or classes of angels.Someone may say, "The Bible

talks about archangels." The Bible

never employs the term archangel inthe plural; it is used only in the

singular. The Apostle Paul wrote in

1 Thessalonians 4:16, "For the Lord

himself shall descend from heavenwith a shout, with the voice of the

archangel." Who is the archangel?

and Who will descend with a shout?

According to this Scripture, "The

Lord Himself." The word arch in

Greek means "master or chief," andthe Lord Himself is the Master or the

Chief of angels. How do we know?

In the Garden of Gethsemane He

said, "Thinkest thou that I cannot

now pray to my Father, and he shallpresently give me more than twelve

legions of angels" (Matthew 26:53)?

The only other place the wordarchangel appears in the Scriptures is

in Jude 9, which refers to Michael

the Archangel. The word Michael

means "one who is like God." Whodoes that describe? In John 14:8

when Philip said, "Lord, show us the

Father," Jesus said, "He that hathseen me hath seen the Father." Why?

He is the One who is like God.Hebrew 1:3 says that He was "the

express image of his person." Who islike God? Who is the Master of

angels? Who is the archangel? Jesus

Christ is the one.

Other than Christ, there are noother ranks, categories, or classes; all

other angelic beings are just angelic

beings. Also, everywhere the word

"angels" appears in the Scriptures, itnever relates to winged creatures.

Therefore, these winged creaturesare something other than angelic

beings. Where do the Scripturesteach that Cherubims are angels?

and Where does the Bible teach

ranks and classes of angels? Thetruth is, the Bible teaches neither.

The word cherub, which is

singular, is mentioned twenty-seven

times in nineteen verses. Cherubim,which is plural, is mentioned

sixty-five times in the Scriptures in

fifty-seven verses. This lets us knowthat the teaching of these Cherubimsis important in the Scriptures. Why

did these Cherubims appear on the

scene? Because verse 24 says "he

drove out man." Why did God dothat? Verse 22 tells us, "And the

LORD God said, Behold, the man is

become as one of us, to know good

and evil: and now, lest he put forth [continued on page 26]

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Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made

of things which do appear.

Brother Roger L. Decker

Earnestly Contend for the Faith

We are living in a day and agewhen battle lines are being drawn.We are in a spiritual battle, and thebattle is over the faith. The Scripture

says in Ephesians 6:12, "For wewrestle not against flesh and blood,but against principalities, againstpowers, against the rulers of thedarkness of this world, against spiri-tual wickedness in high places."Another translation of the sameverse says this: "Our struggle is notagainst flesh and blood, but againstthe rulers, against the powers,against the world forces of this dark-

ness, against the spiritual forces ofwickedness in the heavenly places."Dear one, the struggle is over thefaith.

Jude wrote in Jude 3, "Beloved,when I gave all diligence to write

unto you of the common salvation, itwas needful for me to write untoyou, and exhort you that ye shouldearnestly contend for the faith whichwas once delivered unto the saints."The word contend means "to laborfervently, to fight, to compete as fora prize." Paul, at the close of his life,said in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have foughta good fight, I have finished mycourse, I have kept the faith." The

Word of God lets us know that hedid not fight carnally, or fleshly.There is just too much carnality andfleshly fighting today. Church, wedo not fight carnally, but our war-fare is mighty through God. We are

in a spiritual battle; therefore, wecannot fight this battle in the flesh.

First Corinthians 15:32 says, "Ifafter the manner of men I havefought with beasts at Ephesus, whatadvantageth it me, if the dead risenot? let us eat and drink; for to mor-row we die." When the Apostle Paulsaid he fought with beasts atEphesus, he was not speaking ofliteral beasts such as lions, tigers, or



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bears; but he was speaking of war-ring against men who acted savageand as fierce as beasts.

To be a Christian and to stay aChristian, one must be a fighter: onemust have the backbone to stand forwhat is right and have faith that willnot quit. Being a Christian is not for

whiners and babies. Christianfriend, you should not give in orcower down every time the enemycomes in with an attack. It takes areal man or woman to live for God.Your faith is going to be tested andtried, right down to the close oftime.

There is an all-out attack on thesaints of God. If you do not havewhat it takes to finish, you need toget it, because the enemy will notleave you alone. You may say, "Iwish he would give me a break for awhile," but he is not going to dothat. Just about the time you thinkthe enemy is going to leave youalone awhile, you need to be onyour guard, because something iscoming your way. Nevertheless, youneed to have faith in Almighty God.He will take care of you, thoughcircumstances may not change whenyou want them to. Often we wantthings to change quickly, but we

may have to wait awhile.

Look to the Higher Power

Many cannot take persecution,so they just give up serving God.Saint, you have to leave some thingswith God. He knows more abouthow to take care of situations thanyou ever will. You need faith thatwill not quit. Becoming a Christianis not a sign that the battle is over.The battle begins when you change

kingdoms. Becoming a Christiandoes not mean that all your prob-lems are going to work out overnight, but if you have faith in Godand live right, He will take care ofthose things.

Today people, are so quick tolisten to garbage. Many "garbagecollectors" and "trash haulers" arearound, and they love to drop thingsin people's ears. What should you

do if they try to dump garbage inyour ears? You need to shut themoff, listen to the Spirit of God, andcontinue to serve God. Also, youneed to get into the house of God,listen to the Word of God, and at-tend the prayer services. You mustdo all the things that you know are

right, and God will take care of ev-erything else. You should not be awhiner because you have persecu-tion. Persecution will come. If peo-ple are persecuting you, you musthave something the devil wants. Ifyou are not being persecuted, youshould check your experience.

You need to have faith that Godwill take care of you. You may ask,"How can God deliver me from themess that I am in?" You need toleave the "how" with God. The onlything He wants you to do is believein Him and have faith in Him. Somethings may look impossible to you,but God does not need you to try towork it out. He is God, the Creator,the God of the universe. He is thegreat I AM and a universal God, yetHe is a personal God. I am not talk-ing about a god made of silver orwood or stone. I am talking aboutthe great I AM, the Almighty God,who can speak peace to your soul in

a moment of time.Paul said in Colossians 1:13,"Who hath delivered us from thepower of darkness, and hath trans-lated us into the kingdom of his dearSon." Darkness has a power to it.That is the reason a person cannotget saved anytime he or she wantsto. You must be delivered from thepower of darkness. That is quite apower over the natural man, butthere is a higher power–God Al-mighty. In another translation the

same verse says, "For He rescued usfrom the domain of darkness andtransferred us to the kingdom of hisbeloved Son." What a change! Whata transfer!

Watch and Be Strong

In the Old Testament you canread about a battle between Israel ofold and the Philistines. The elders of

Israel sent for the ark, which was atShiloh, and brought it back into thecamp. They had already been de-feated, and they knew there was nosense in going out without God.When the ark was brought back intothe camp, the people shouted andthe Scripture says "the earth rang

again." (Wherever God is, there isstill shouting and praising God, andthe tabernacle rings with the praisesof God.) The Philistines heard theshouting and asked, "What meaneththe noise of this great shout in thecamp of the Hebrews?" Someonetold them that the ark of the Lordwas in the camp.

First Samuel 4:7 says, "And thePhilistines were afraid, for they said,God is come into the camp. Andthey said, Woe unto us! for therehath not been such a thing hereto-fore." They were afraid, so whenthey went out to battle, they neededencouragement to fight hard and notgive up. Real men are known for thefact that they do not quit.

The Philistines had to have somemotivation, so their leader moti-vated them by saying in 1 Samuel4:9, "Be strong, and quit yourselveslike men, O ye Philistines, that ye benot servants unto the Hebrews, as

they have been to you: quit your-selves like men, and fight." Now,there was no way the Philistineswanted to become servants of Israel.They would rather have had thepeople of Israel become their ser-vants. The Philistines would notentertain the thought of giving up.Child of God, you need that samedetermination. You should not wantto be enslaved by the devil. Do notgive up and quit or you will becomea servant of the devil. Friend, you

are serving one master or the other.If you are not serving God, you areserving the devil, no matter howmany churches you have joined.You must be born of the Spirit ofGod.

Child of God, do not lose faith inGod and quit serving Him. You donot want to become a slave to thedevil. Paul said in 1 Corinthians16:13, "Watch ye, stand fast in the



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faith, quit you like men, be strong."Friend, God wants you to be alertand to stand firm in the faith. Achild of God dresses differentlyfrom this world. A godly man willnot wear anything that pertains to awoman, and a godly woman willnot wear anything that pertains to a

man. God wants a woman to lookand act as a woman should, and Hewants a man to look and act as aman should. Have you ever noticedthe little symbols on the restroomdoors, especially at internationalairports? They put a silhouette of awoman wearing a dress on thewomen's restroom doors and a sil-houette of a man wearing trouserson the men's. Those symbols arerecognized in every nation.

A real man distances himselffrom looking feminine. He will notgo around wearing earrings. Awoman wants a real man for a hus-band, not a sissy or a whiner. On theother hand, a godly woman will notwear a necktie. She will distanceherself from the wearing of men'sapparel. She does not want to lookmasculine; she wants to look femi-nine.

What are the duties of a woman?A woman should know how to

cook, how to repair clothing, andhow to clean a house. Also, sheshould love and care for her chil-dren. She should not drop them offat a day care center. A godly mothermakes sure that her children attendthe worship services at the house ofGod and attend Sunday school. Shealso submits to her husband, eventhough she disagrees with him, justas the saint submits to God evenwhen he or she does not understandsomething fully.

The Strongest Weaponof Our Warfare

Child of God, do not give uppraying for your lost loved ones. Donot let your faith die just becauseyou do not receive an immediateanswer. The Lord may be workingsomething that you do not see.Though you do not see any outward

signs, that is no indication that Godis not moving. Do not go by whatyou can see with your physical eyes.Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is thesubstance of things hoped for, theevidence of things not seen." Youcannot always see God working onthings. Often people get discouraged

and quit praying, and then they missmany blessings.

In Matthew, Chapter 26, wehave a picture of Jesus in the gardenof Gethsemane. Verses 36 and 38read: "Then cometh Jesus with themunto a place called Gethsemane, andsaith unto the disciples, Sit ye here,while I go and pray yonder . . . .Then saith he unto them, My soul isexceeding sorrowful, even untodeath: tarry ye here, and watch withme." His will had to come into sub-mission to the Cross. Mark 14:38says, "Watch ye and pray, lest yeenter into temptation. The spirittruly is ready, but the flesh is weak."

How did Jesus bring the fleshunder? He used the strongest weap-on of our warfare–prayer. He didnot pray just once, but He prayedthree times. We read in Matthew26:44, "And he left them, and wentaway again, and prayed the thirdtime, saying the same words." Faith

will not give in to the pressures ofthe flesh. Friend, though the pres-sure becomes extreme, do not givein to the flesh. Walk in the Spirit,and keep your faith in God. The justshall live by faith.

Paul sought the Lord three timesconcerning a "thorn in the flesh."Second Corinthians 12:8-9 says: "Forthis thing I besought the Lord thrice,that it might depart from me. Andhe said unto me, My grace is suffi-cient for thee: for my strength is

made perfect in weakness. Mostgladly therefore will I rather glory inmy infirmities, that the power ofChrist may rest upon me." Do not bea quitter just because you do not getan immediate answer.

Consider the Faith of Elijah

The Scripture says in James5:17-18: "Elias [Elijah] was a man

subject to like passions as we are [inother words, he had passions anddesires just as you and I do], and heprayed earnestly that it might notrain: and it rained not on the earthby the space of three years and sixmonths. And he prayed again, andthe heaven gave rain, and the earth

brought forth her fruit."First Kings 18:41-46 tells us:

"And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get theeup, eat and drink; for there is asound of abundance of rain. SoAhab went up to eat and to drink.And Elijah went up to the top ofCarmel; and he cast himself downupon the earth, and put his facebetween his knees, And said to hisservant, Go up now, look toward thesea. And he went up, and looked,and said, There is nothing. And hesaid, Go again seven times. And itcame to pass at the seventh time,that he said, Behold, there ariseth alittle cloud out of the sea, like aman's hand. And he said, Go up, sayunto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, andget thee down, that the rain stopthee not. And it came to pass in themean while, that the heaven wasblack with clouds and wind, andthere was a great rain. And Ahabrode, and went to Jezreel. And the

hand of the Lord was on Elijah; andhe girded up his loins, and ran be-fore Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."

King Ahab, upon hearing thenews that the famine was going tobe over, was glad. He was going toeat and drink. However, Elijah wentup on top of the mountain to pray.(If people would get hold of Godtoday, we would see many thingscome to pass in a greater way.) Eli-

jah's prayer was in earnest, and hesent his servant to look seven times.

His prayer was divine. Comingdown from the mountain, Elijah ranahead of Ahab's chariot, and thatcertainly had to be divine. It rained,

just as the man of God said it would.Elijah had faith that did not quit.

Having Persistent Faith

We read in Luke 18:1-8: "And hespake a parable unto them to this



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end, that men ought always to pray,and not to faint [if you do not pray,you will faint]; Saying, There was ina city a judge, which feared not God,neither regarded man: And therewas a widow in that city; and shecame unto him, saying, Avenge meof mine adversary. And he would

not for a while: but afterward hesaid within himself, Though I fearnot God, nor regard man; Yet be-cause this widow troubleth me, Iwill avenge her, lest by her continualcoming she weary me. And the Lordsaid, Hear what the unjust judgesaith. And shall not God avenge hisown elect, which cry day and nightunto him, though he bear long withthem? I tell you that he will avengethem speedily. Nevertheless whenthe Son of man cometh, shall he findfaith on the earth?"

The Scripture says that judgefeared not God nor regarded man,but a widow troubled him by hercontinual coming. The Lord said,"Hear what the unjust judge saith."What did the unjust judge say? Hesaid in verse 5, "Yet because thiswidow troubleth me, I will avenge

her, lest by her continual coming sheweary me." He was not doing it toplease God or to please man. He wasdoing it because he was weary withher continual coming to him. Heprobably scowled and frowned ather, but she had faith that would notquit.

Now, when you or I come toGod, we are not coming to an unjust

judge. We have One who is just, Onewho bids us to come to Him. Thewidow woman would not take nofor an answer or be ignored. This

judge was unjust, but our Judge is just. Jesus said that God wouldavenge us speedily, or quickly. Letus read verses 7-8 again: "And shallnot God avenge his own elect, whichcry day and night unto him, thoughhe bear long with them? I tell youthat he will avenge them speedily.Nevertheless when the Son of mancometh, shall he find faith on theearth?"

Psalm 66:19 says, "But verilyGod hath heard me; he hath at-tended to the voice of my prayer."Faith is a firm conviction; it is a per-suasion in God. Christian friend, do

not give in to the flesh and let theflesh have its way. You need to prayas Jesus did, until the will of God isforemost in your life. Do not quitwhen something goes wrong.Things are going to go wrong. Nev-ertheless, I would rather go throughtrials with God to help me than

without Him. Won't you be a realman or woman for God and havefaith that will not quit? We are in abattle, so that means we must put onthe whole armor of God. We have togo to God through the office ofprayer to get the strength we need tostand.

Again, Hebrews 11:1-3: "Nowfaith is the substance of thingshoped for, the evidence of things notseen. For by it the elders obtained agood report. Through faith we un-derstand that the worlds wereframed by the word of God, so thatthings which are seen were notmade of things which do appear."You must have faith that will notquit, faith that will not settle foranything but believing in God.

(Cassette C-4188E)



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1 Samuel 28:1 And it came to passin those days, that the Philistines gath-ered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said untoDavid, Know thou assuredly, that thoushalt go out with me to battle, thou andthy men.

2 And David said to Achish, Surely

thou shalt know what thy servant cando. And Achish said to David, Thereforewill 1 make thee keeper of mine head for ever.

3 Now Samuel was dead, and allIsrael had lamented him, and buried himin Ramah, even in his own city. AndSaul had put away those that had famil-iar spirits, and the wizards, out of theland.

4 And the Philistines gatheredthemselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gatheredall Israel together, and they pitched inGilboa.

5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and hisheart greatly trembled.

6 And when Saul inquired of theLORD , the LORD answered him not,neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

7 Then said Saul unto his servants,Seek me a woman that path a familiar spirit, that 1 may go to her, and inquireof her. And his servants said to him,Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, andtwo men with him, and they came to thewoman by night: and he said, 1 praythee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom 1shall name unto thee.

9 And the woman said unto him,

Behold, thou knowest what Saul hathdone, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou asnare for my life, to cause me to die?

10 And Saul sware to her by theLORD , saying, As the LORD liveth, thereshall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

Brother C. H. Dickerson

The "Little Things" Are Important

This text of Scripture remindsme of what John said about the devilin Revelation. He said that in theevening time, the devil would beloose for a season and deceive thenations once more. Matthew 24:24tells us, "For there shall arise falseChrists, and false prophets, andshall show great signs and wonders;

insomuch that, if it were possible,they shall deceive the very elect."When Paul's life was ending, he saidin 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought agood fight, I have finished mycourse, I have kept the faith." Inother words, he had done what Godhad told him to do; he had finishedhis mission.

The enemy of souls has set outin these last days to deceive people.

Today we are seeing things happenthat let us know we are coming tothe end of time. The Scriptures tell ofmany signs of the end of time. Oneis found in Luke, which tells us thatmen's hearts will fail them for fear.He was not speaking of men havingfatal heart attacks, but he was speak-ing of men losing heart and failingGod. I have never seen such back-sliding as I have seen in the day and



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age in which we are living. Peopleare not putting their hearts into thethings of God as they once did.

Consider the mind set of peopletoday. For example, someone maybe standing on a street corner andsee an automobile accident. Yet, ifsomeone were to ask that person to

be a witness, that individual wouldsay, "I don't want to be involved."This same thing is happening in thechurch. By their actions, people say,"I don't want to be involved. I'mgoing to straddle the fence." Friend,you cannot straddle the fence andserve God.

The devil has never made thingslook as attractive as he has in theday and age in which we are living.He is making immodest dress andmodern religion look attractive. Hewants people to take an easier way.He is causing people to think thatthey can get by with just a littleadornment and that everything willbe fine as long as they do not go toofar. You may hear people say,"These little things don't matter." Onthe contrary, the little things do mat-ter. If you think little things do notmatter, take your car that has a dis-tributor on it and pull out the rotorand see if it will work. You will find

that it will not work. The same istrue with the things of God. Littlethings are killing the influence ofsome who claim to be God's people.Also, they do not have the victorythat they once had because of thelittle things they are involved with.

Turning to ThingsYou Once Condemned

Verse 3 of our Scripture text letsus know that Soul once condemned

all those who had familiar spiritsand drove them out of the country.However, after Saul failed God, Hewould not answer him, so Saulcalled on a woman with a familiarspirit and promised her that shewould not be punished. It is hard tobelieve that those ten verses aretalking about the same person. SinceSaul had condemned that practiceearlier, that woman stood in amaze-

ment.You need to look at how Saul

got in that condition, because if youare not careful, the devil will leadyou down the same path. You needa determination in your heart thatyou are going to serve God, standagainst everything that is against

Truth, and stand for everything thatis Truth. If you fail to do that, youcould end up on the path of condon-ing and practicing the sin that youonce condemned. The Apostle Paulwrote in Galatians 2:18, "For if Ibuild again the things which I de-stroyed, I make myself a transgres-sor." Christian friend, you need toask yourself if you are still standingfor biblical principles.

The devil has set out to deceiveyou. If you are not careful, little bylittle, he will lead you down a roadthat leads to building again thethings that you once destroyed. Atone time many Church of God folksstood against adornment, but todayyou cannot tell them from the worldby the way they dress. They have letdown little by little. You do not haveto be deceived if you take a stand forthe Gospel and continue to stand forTruth and the standard that God hasgiven us.

All who choose to follow thedownward road will end up at thesame place. Protestantism once tooka stand against Catholicism. That isthe reason they are called Protes-tants. But what are we seeing today?We are seeing them go back andcondone the pope. They are follow-ing the same things they once stoodagainst. They are bringing obser-vances that once belonged to Cathol-icism into Protestantism today. Onesuch observance is Lent, and another

is Ash Wednesday. At one timemany took a stand against Babylonand every man-made organizationthat has tried to make itself a nameand an independent way to Heaven.Today some are going back to Baby-lon. They are going down the sameroad that Saul went down.

The devil wants you to buildagain the things that you once de-stroyed, but you do not have to. You

can walk with God, uphold the stan-dard, and be what God would haveyou to be. God will take care of youand take you through.

Failing to Do What Is Right

Friend, .you need to observe the

first recorded deviation that Saultook to get into the condition he wasin. According to Matthew Henryand other commentators, the jour-ney to Endor was about seven milesfrom Gilboa and was over difficultroads. Saul needed much help totravel there, but he pressed his wayto get down to the very thing that heonce condemned. Any time a personturns away from God, he must goagainst his conscience, against theHoly Spirit's chastisement, andagainst moral conduct. On the otherhand, if one never takes the first stepin the wrong direction, he will notend up at the wrong destination.

Let us consider the first step thatSaul took in the wrong direction. Weread in 1 Samuel 13:8-12: "And he[Samuel] tarried seven days, accord-ing to the set time that Samuel hadappointed: but Samuel came not toGilgal; and the people were scat-tered from him. And Saul said,

Bring hither a burnt offering to me,and peace offerings. And he offeredthe burnt offering. And it came topass, that as soon as he had made anend of offering the burnt offering,behold, Samuel came; and Saul wentout to meet him, that he might salutehim. And Samuel said, What hastthou done? And Saul said, Because Isaw that the people were scatteredfrom me, and that thou camest notwithin the days appointed, and thatthe Philistines gathered themselves

together at Michmash; Thereforesaid I, The Philistines will comedown now upon me to Gilgal, and Ihave not made supplication unto theLORD: I forced myself therefore, andoffered a burnt offering." WhenSamuel asked Saul what he haddone and why, Saul blamed others(that is the spirit of our age).

Later Saul failed to do what Godsaid. God said to destroy every-



9

thing–the babies, the animals, theadults, and the king; but Saul saidhe brought back the choice animalsand the king because the peoplewanted him to. Failing to do what isright goes on in our day. The reasonmore ministers do not take a standfor God's eternal Truth is that peo-

ple do not want them to. They areafraid to take a stand, but that ex-cuse will not work before the judg-ment bar of God. It did not work inSaul's day, and it will not work to-day.

Saul paid the price for his ac-tions. If you are wishy-washy anddo not take a stand, you will pay theprice for it. You cannot straddle thefence. You ought to take a stand forGod's eternal Truth in the face of theenemy, no matter what other peopledo. You must give an account beforeGod for the decisions you make.

First Samuel 13:13-14 tells us:"And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hastdone foolishly [he did somethingthat God said not to do and thenblamed others]: thou hast not keptthe commandment of the LORD thyGod, which he commanded thee: fornow would the LORD have estab-lished thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not

continue: the LORD hath sought hima man after his own heart, and theLORD hath commanded him to becaptain over his people, becausethou hast not kept that which theLORD commanded thee."

Saul lost the kingdom overwhich he ruled. Saint, you are in theKingdom of God, and you are rulingover sin. If you do not keep the com-mandments that God has given, youwill not rule over sin any longer, butsin will rule over you.

Overriding God's Word

The first transgression that Saulcommitted was to assume powerthat was not his. He tried to assumethe power of the priest's office andoffer a sacrifice. He first acted ac-cording to human insight and rea-soning. That will get you into muchtrouble. In verse 12 Saul said,

"Therefore said I, The Philistineswill' come down now upon me toGilgal, and I have not made suppli-cation unto the LORD." He did whathe thought was right in his owneyes, but it was not what God said.Many people today are doing whatthey think is right, but it is not what

God said. Friend, what you think isright in your own eyes does notmean anything as far as God is con-cerned. Human reasoning cannotoverride what God says.

God has always insisted thatpeople keep His commandments.He will not put up with deviationsin any way, shape, or form. Hewants you to make sure that you doexactly what He says. He said inProverbs two times, "There is a waywhich seemeth right unto a man,bur the end thereof are the ways ofdeath" (Proverbs 14:12;16:25). Many.people have fallen because they didwhat they felt was right, but it wasnot God's way. If your way deviatesfrom what God has said, you hadbetter get that thought out of yourmind in a hurry, because it will dofor you what it did for Saul. He of-fered a sacrifice because Samuel wasnot there; however, that was con-trary to God's way. As a result, God

did not bless it. He will not blessover the top of sin yet today. Godwants you to do what He tells youto do and to live the way His Wordsays to live. You must forget whatman says and do what God says orHe will not bless you.

Yielding to Pressure

Next, Saul yielded to the pres-sures and the circumstances aroundhim. In Exodus, Chapter 32, you can

read of how Aaron made the goldencalf. He collected the gold and mold-ed it; but he said he just threw it inthe fire and it came out a calf, andthen the people danced around it.Why did he do that? Because Moseswas not there. The reason Saul of-fered a sacrifice was that Samuelwas not there. The rights of thepriesthood were not Saul's; there-fore, God's standard was pulled

down to Saul's own level. Todayinstead of people asking God to liftthem, they try to pull God's stan-dard down to themselves.

God has a standard. He has astandard for your dress, for yourhair, for the company you keep, andfor where you go. Too many have

cooled off in their experience withGod and are working against God'sstandard. The Bible lets you knowthat a little leaven leavens the wholelump. There is no use trying to pullthe standard down to fit yourself.You need to measure to God's stan-dard.

Paul taught in Hebrews 12:26,"Whose voice then shook the earth:but now he hath promised, saying,Yet once more I shake not the earthonly, but also heaven." Paul was nottalking about the literal earth or thefirmament of heaven. He was speak-ing of a spiritual earthquake to callpeople out of earthly, man-madeorganizations. In this third earth-quake, which we are in, He is alsoshaking the church to get everythingout of the church that should not bethere. God has a beautiful churchthat is pure. His church does nothave compromisers in it. God's peo-ple stand for His eternal Truth

though they go through the fire.Paul wrote in verse 27, "And thisword, Yet once more, signifieth theremoving of those things that areshaken, as of things that are made,that those things which cannot beshaken may remain." What was Hesaying? In this earthquake we hadbetter get hold of Truth and hangon, because God is going to shakeoff everyone who has deviated fromTruth.

He continued in verse 28,

"Wherefore we receiving a kingdomwhich cannot be moved, [God'sstandard and His kingdom cannotbe moved. He has already set thebounds of how one can get into it,and the only way to get in is to comethrough the Door, Jesus Christ.When one comes through the Door,he enters a kingdom that cannot bemoved.] let us have grace [gracecame by Jesus Christ], whereby we



10

may serve God acceptably with rev-erence and godly fear." He let usknow that the bounds of the king-dom cannot be extended; it is notgoing to become broader. Paul wassaying, in so many words, "Youcannot change it, so just pray forgrace so that you can measure up to

God's standard."

Deliberate Disobedience

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1, "Thisknow also, that in the last days peril-ous [dangerous] times shall come."We are living in one of the mostdangerous times, spiritually, inwhich man has ever lived. The devilhas turned loose every power he hasto defeat us. Second Timothy 3:3speaks of a people who are fierce:"Without natural af fect ion,trucebreakers, false accusers, incon-tinent, fierce, despisers of those thatare good."

Isaiah said in Isaiah 33:18-20:"Thine heart shall meditate terror.Where is the scribe? where is thereceiver? where is he that countedthe towers? Thou shalt not see afierce people, a people of a deeperspeech than thou canst perceive; of astammering tongue, that thou canst

not understand. Look upon Zion,the city of our solemnities: thineeyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habi-tation, a tabernacle that shall not betaken down; not one of the stakesthereof shall ever be removed, nei-ther shall any of the cords thereof bebroken." God's people are a peacefulpeople. There are no wars in thechurch. In fact, Jesus said in the Be-atitudes, "Blessed are the peacemak-ers: for they shall be called the chil-dren of God" (Matthew 5:9). The

only ones who are going to see Godare the peacemakers. Those who tryto stir up trouble will not makeHeaven their home, because Jesussaid they would not.

Isaiah said Zion was a city ofpeace and a quiet habitation, a taber-nacle that would not be taken down.Also, he said that none of the stakeswould ever be removed nor thechords broken. That is not going to

change. No one can pull down thestandard or tear down the church.The church will stand. Your battle isto make sure that you stay in thechurch. How can you do that? Youmust lift up the standard and dowhat God tells you to do. If you doexactly what God tells you to do,

you will keep the standard.The next point that we can ob-

serve concerning Saul was his delib-erate disobedience. God said to de-stroy all the Amorites and all theanimals, but instead Saul sinned insparing what God said to destroy.Friend, you can never excuse your-self for condoning what God says todestroy. Jesus said in Luke 19:27,"But those mine enemies, whichwould not that I should reign overthem, bring hither, and slay thembefore me."

Some people will not let Christreign over them. They will not besubject to His Word. Christianfriend, you should not keep a closerelationship with such people, be-cause you will become tainted bythem. Deuteronomy 33:27 says, "Theeternal God is thy refuge, and un-derneath are the everlasting arms:and he shall thrust out the enemyfrom before thee; and shall say, De-

stroy them."God is exposing people todayand showing the spirits they have bywhat they do. Friend, the Word ofGod talks about a little leaven leav-ening the whole lump. How doesGod expose the enemy? When peo-ple do not possess the Spirit of God,He said He would bring that out. Itis up to you to kill that close rela-tionship, because if you do not, thatlittle leaven will destroy your soul.

Following a Multitude to Do Evil

Saul was to lead the people, andthe people were to follow. First Peter5:2-3 says: "Feed the flock of Godwhich is among you, taking theoversight thereof, not by constraint,but willingly; not for filthy lucre, butof a ready mind; Neither as beinglords over God's heritage, but beingensamples to the flock." Saul was not

supposed to follow the people. Like-wise, God has called the ministry tolead the people. Jesus said, "Feed mysheep." In other words, He was say-ing, "Give them something to helpthem to grow and develop." Minis-ters, doing what the people wantedthem to do has brought down many

ministers. The people wanted Saulto bring some things back. BecauseSaul gave heed to the people, itbrought his destruction. Likewise,because of Aaron's actions, manypeople were destroyed. When Mosescame down from the mountain, hesaid, "Who is on the Lord's side? Lethim stand over here." Of thosetwelve tribes, only one tribe stoodwith Moses. The rest of them weredestroyed because the people didnot obey what God said.

Things have not changed today.People are still following others, andthey are going down. You need toget your eyes off people and getthem on God. You must live up tothe Bible standard and do what Godsays, and then you will be spared.

Just because a multitude is goinganother way does not mean they areright.

Deuteronomy 28:13-15 reads"And the LORD shall make thee the

head, and not the tail; and thou shaltbe above only, and thou shah not bbeneath; if that thou hearken untothe commandments of the LORD thyGod, which I command thee thisday, to observe and to do them: Anthou shalt not go aside from any ofthe words which I command theethis day, to the right hand, or to theleft, to go after other gods to servethem. But it shall come to pass, ifthou wilt not hearken unto the voiceof the LORD thy God, to observe to

do all his commandments and hisstatutes which I command thee thisday; that all these curses shall comeupon thee, and overtake thee."

God wants the church to be theleader of this old world, not thefollower. In other words, God hasset the standard for His church. Ifyou are not careful, friend, you willfollow after the standards of the'world. All that the world has to do



11

is change its standard, and not longafterward some who claim to beGod's people will follow that samestandard. That is not what Godwants. God set the standard in thevery beginning, and He meant foreach of us to follow His standard.He said if you would not do this,

curses would be upon you. Verses16-19 state: "Cursed shalt thou be inthe city, and cursed shalt thou be inthe field. Cursed shall be thy basketand thy store. Cursed shall be thefruit of thy body, and the fruit of thyland, the increase of thy kine, andthe flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shaltthou be when thou comest in, andcursed shalt thou be when thougoest out." In other words, yourlabors will be unfruitful.

God wants the church to set thestandard for this lost and dyingworld. Today most religious peoplehave become so worldly that youcannot tell the difference betweenthem and the world. They all lookalike and dress alike. God's peopledress and act as saints should. Goddoes not want His people to followthe world. Dressing immodestly andwearing adornment is of the worldand has no place in the church.

Sacrificing Godly Principles

According to Deuteronomy28:13-19, if you do not obey theLord's commands, you will becomethe tail and not the head, and youwill be cursed. America was onceknown as a Christian nation, buttoday her standards have droppedto an all-time low. If you were tolook at the history of crime and ille-gal drugs, you would see that Amer-ica ranks near the top of all the cor-

ruption that is going on. As a result,God's Word lets us know that thecities, the fields, the stores, the cattle,the sheep, and all these thingswould be cursed, or unfruitful.

The head is the leader, andGod's people need to be the leaderby setting the standard rather thanfollowing the standards of theworld. God's cause can never ad-vance by sacrificing holy principles.

In too many cases, worship serviceshave become entertainment services.Some congregations that were onceon fire for God have become world-ly. In their services they allow aboutone hour and fifteen minutes formusic, singing, and entertainment,but when it comes time to preach the

Word, they have only about fifteenminutes of time left. My friend, wedo not hold church services to enter-tain but to preach God's eternalWord. God wants adequate timeallowed to preach the Gospel.

We are living in a day and agewhen many preachers have tried tomodernize their services by havingcontests and using Babylonian tac-tics and ideas. These things are notacceptable to God as substitutes forHis commandments, and they neverwill be. If you are going to serveGod, you must live the Word of Geldaily so that others can see some-thing different than what the worldhas to offer.

Saul started on a downwardpath. Friend, if you start down thewrong path, you never know howfar down the devil will take you. Ifyou were to drive on an icy roadand your car started to slide, itwould be almost impossible to con-

trol. The first wrong step for Saulwas disobedience, but that was onlythe beginning. It only takes onedrink for a person to start down theroad toward alcoholism. Many fineyoung people have oversteppedgodly principles in their dating andended up in moral corruption. Thefirst immoral thought can lead to theactual deed.

The Spirit of Jealousy

Saul started down the wrongroad, and his condition declinedrapidly. He became jealous of Da-vid. One of the worst spirits there isin our day is an old jealous spirit. Ifyou are jealous of someone becausethat person can play an instrumentbetter than you can, preach betterthan you can, sing better than youcan, pray better than you can, orreceives more recognition than you

do, that seed of jealousy will bringyou down.

Saul could not stand the com-pany of one who was truly anointedof God. Do you find yourself shun-ning the company of the saints? Ifyou enjoy the company of the saints,then you should be at the house of

God every time there is a service. Ifyou shun the saints, something iswrong. Do you find yourself morecomfortable with those who fallshort of the standard? If so, some-thing is wrong. Friend, when God'sSpirit is in you, you love the stan-dard of God's Word and the com-pany of the saints. God said, "And Iwill put my spirit within you, andcause you to walk in my statutes,and ye shall keep my judgments,and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27).

Staying away from the thing youlove is difficult. The reason peopledo not go to the house of God is thatthey love something else. Whenpeople love God and God's people,they want to be around God's peo-ple. Every time the church door isopen, they will be there. When peo-ple say, "Oh, I love to be with God'speople," but they never show up atthe church services, something iswrong. I go to the house of God

every Sunday because I love to asso-ciate with God's people. I love toattend the camp meetings. I enjoythe praises of God and good mes-sages that search the heart. Whenyou love these things, that is whereyou will be. If you love God's Truth,you are going to be where the Truthis.

The spirit of jealousy will sepa-rate people. If one were jealous of anindividual, he would not want to bearound that person. After Saul be-

came jealous of David, his next stepwas to cast a javelin at David to tryto kill him. He once held David inhigh esteem when he defeated thegiant. When the spirit of jealousyworks, instead of people lifting oth-ers up and holding them in highesteem, they throw a spiritual javelinat them and do everything they canto kill their influence. Some peoplethrow javelins of criticism, backbit-



12

ing, insubordination, falsehoods,and false allegations.

David was not the one who hadchanged. He was the same as healways had been. Who hadchanged? The javelin thrower. Thathappened because Saul had an evilheart. When David went out to meet

the giant, he put on Saul's armor toplease Saul, but he told Saul: "Thiswill not work. I have not tried thisarmor. The only thing I am sure of isthis slingshot that I have. God deliv-ered me from the lion and the bear,and I know that He will deliver mefrom this giant." So he took off Saul'sarmor, and Saul praised him. Hesaid, "You be careful, David, becauseyou are dealing with a man of war."

David went out and killed thatgiant, and then he took Goliath'ssword and cut off his head. When hewent back, Saul had nothing butpraise for him. There was so muchpraise for David from the peoplethat Saul became jealous of him.Next, instead of praising David, Saulwanted to kill him. In his heart hedid slay him. David was still thehumble, young man he had alwaysbeen, but the javelin thrower pos-sessed an evil spirit.

An Evil Heart

To walk with God, you musthave a humble heart and do whatGod tells you to do. A jealous spiritwill cause one to whisper and throwfalse allegations at others. The thingthat causes all of this is an evil heart.

Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23: "For fromwithin, out of the heart of men, pro-ceed evil thoughts, adulteries, forni-cations, murders, Thefts, covetous-ness, wickedness, deceit, lascivious-

ness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,foolishness: All these evil thingscome from within, and defile theman." These things happen becausethe heart is defiled.The road to Endor led to doom.Through the shadows of the night,the Scripture tells us that this God-forsaken king slipped down to End-or. He disguised himself and tried tohide behind a false personality. He

put on clothes different from what aking's attire was and sought out thewitch of Endor. Saint, I want you torealize that you need to wear theproper attire. If God has called youto be a helper, then you should be agood helper. Do not try to exaltyourself and try to be like someone

else. Saul pretended to be somethingthat he was not. Furthermore, hewould have never tolerated anyoneelse doing that.

Verses 9-10 of our Scripture textread: "And the woman said untohim, Behold, thou knowest whatSaul hath done, how he hath cut offthose that have familiar spirits, andthe wizards, out of the land: where-fore then layest thou a snare for mylife, to cause me to die? And Saulsware to her by the LORD, saying, Asthe LORD liveth, there shall no pun-ishment happen to thee for thisthing."

After Saul left the witch's place,he went into battle and committedsuicide. Also, his three sons andarmor bearers died. Why? Becausehe refused to be obedient, and littleby little, he got in worse shape. TheSpirit of God, often through a faith-ful man of God, will warn one whenhe is heading the wrong direction.Nevertheless, that person can over-ride the warnings and start on adownward path. Remember, if youstart that downward path, there isno telling what your end will be.Saul went lower and lower, until hedid the very thing he once stoodagainst.

Friend, I want you to realize thatwhen a person dies spiritually, henever dies alone. People alwaysaffect others, and they also die spiri-tually. When one backslides; heaffects others. Paul talked about this

in the Hebrew letter when he said,"Not forsaking the assembling ofourselves together, as the manner ofsome is; but exhorting one another:and so much the more, as ye see theday approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).

Has God Departed From You?

If you want to serve God, youmust take a stand for God and for

Truth. You cannot take a stand forGod and associate with people whohave left Truth. Truth has cost manypeople their lives. It will still costyou something yet today, but it willbe worth it to make Heaven yourhome.

You may think, "If I leave, no

one will miss me." Friend, that is thedevil talking to you. If you were tobackslide, your children, your com-panion, and your relatives would beaffected. Also, the congregationwould be affected. You would bemissed and you would ruin yourfamily. It would affect your Sundayschool teacher, the song leader, thechoir director, and the pastor.

Parent, where are you leadingyour children? Young person, whereare you leading your girlfriend or

boyfriend? You have a responsibil-ity, and you must give an account toGod. You need to search yourself.The devil is doing his best to deceivepeople. He has deceived many peo-ple, and he is still working.

Where are you leading people?Where are you leading your family?Are you leading them to a cooled-offposition? Are you leading them tothe place where they will lose confi-dence in the Truth? I say again, youmust give an account. One of thesaddest Scriptures in the Word ofGod is found in 1 Samuel 28:15,which says, "God is departed fromme." Verse 18 lets us know that hefailed to keep God's command-ments: "Because thou obeyedst notthe voice of the LORD, nor executedsthis fierce wrath upon Amalek, there-fore hath the LORD done this thingunto thee this day." Friend, do youstill have God? If so, do not let Himdepart from you.

Saul was warned, yet he failedto keep the commandments thatGod had given him. Are you obey-ing the voice of the Lord? The voiceof the Lord will tell you the samething theWord of God does. Are youkeeping the Word of God or driftingoff track? You need to think aboutthis, because what you do affectsothers. God told Saul what o dothrough Samuel, but Saul failed to



13

be obedient, and it cost him his soul.It also cost him the lives of manypeople who associated with him,including his sons whom he loved.

God wants you to follow Truthand to be lead by the Holy Spirit.

Someone may ask, "How can I knowwho is right?" One way you willnever get fooled is by trying thespirits. You must get your eyes offpeople with bad spirits and get themon God. The Bible says to try the

spirits. If they are not right, you hadbetter flee. When the spirit is right,you need to stay where you are andwalk with God.

(Cassette C-4206M)

Be Serious

Once a traveler journeyed atnight, toward a river swollen byrecent rains. A man met him andsaid in an indifferent way, "Are you

aware that the bridge is gone?""No," was the answer. "Why do

you think so?""Oh, I heard such a report this

afternoon and you had perhapsbetter not proceed."

Deceived by the man's uncer-

tain manner, the traveler continuedon his way. Soon another manupon meeting him cried, "Sir, sir,

the bridge is gone!""Oh, yes," replied the wayfarer,

"someone told m e that story a littledistance back, but from the careless

tone with which he told it, I amsure it is an idle tale."

"Oh, it is true, it is true!" ex-claimed the other. "I know thebridge is gone, for I barely escapedbeing carried away with it myself.

Danger is before you and you mustnot go on."

In great earnestness he graspedthe traveler by the hands and

clothes beseeching him to act uponhis advice. Convinced by his man-

ner, the traveler turned back andwas saved.

Both informants knew thebridge was gone and both warned

of the danger ahead, but the differ-ence in their manner made the dif-

ference of life or death. All aroundus are heedless travelers on the

broad way of destruction, and ifthey are to be won to the path of life

and peace, there must be a burningzeal glowing in the heart and mani-

festing itself in the conversationand actions of God's people. It isnot enough to warn men. Theremust be earnestness back of that

warning if the desired resu lt is to beobtained.

Selected



14

The young man had been

listening so intently that his eyes had

not left Jesus' face. One could n ot help

notice his fine clothing. When Jesus

paused in His teaching, the young

man edge d closer as though trying to

gather enough courage to say

something. Jesus must have sensed

this, for He paused, looked into the

young man's face, and w aited for the

question. "What must I do to inherit

eternal life?" the young man's weak

but excited voice croaked.

Jesus' answer did not discou rage

the young man, for he was keeping all

the laws Jesus mentioned. But then

Jesus looke d into his heart and said,

"There is one thing lacking, sell

everything you have and distribute tothe poor, and you shall have riches in

heaven" (Mark 10:17-22).

The young man's eyes dropped as

his heart sank, for he was very

wealthy. The young man left Jesus

sorrowful, realizing he could not

serve two gods.

Is your god a brand new car w ith

power brakes and power steering?

Are your payments so high that the

church tithe has to suffer? Or is it a

little black book with figures and

dollar signs inside? Is it theeducational degrees? Perhaps the

important church job is most

important.

The fine occupation with the

excellent paycheck or the hobby

which ties up devotional time and

Christian service time can easily be in

first place. Perhaps the family with

important friends is the idol. Each of

us needs to take some time off to

decide if we have other gods which

are becoming too important in our

lives.

In many countries the people are

allowed to have an idol representing

the th i ng most pr ec i ou s to

themwhether it be the sun or good

health or prosperity. No so in

so-called Christian lands. Here we

have only two main classifications:

the believer and the nonbeliever.

However, we rarely find a person

who will admit to being agnostic,

much less to taking an atheist

position. We might be fooling

ourselves here. Perhaps we think we

are speaking with the tongues of

angels, crying, "Lord, Lord," going to

church each Sunday, and yet actuallybeing agnostic.

We w ould be the first to protest if

an agnostic presented his beliefs in

our company, so very sure that his

beliefs are not ours. At least we

would protest with our lips, even

though at the same time we m ight be

losing interest in serving God and in

giving Him our time and thoughts

and money.

The very first commandment

states: "I am the Lord thy God . . .

Thou shalt'have no other gods be foreme." The second commandment

forbids graven images which we

might bow down and serve. Then in

very forceful language it goes on: "For

I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

Each of us will no doubt stoutly

exclaim here that we have no graven

images, that we do worship the one

and only God. Millions of Sunday

church-Boers do worship the real

Lord, at least for a few hours on

Sunday. One fact perhaps is not being

realized here: God is not satisfied

with merely being worshiped. He

demands that we worship Him only.

He truly is a jealous God. Often we do

allow other gods to creep into our

lives, and soon the only time we do

worship God is on Sundays. This

possibly totals four hours. Many of us

spend twice that amount of time

mowing our lawns, washing our cars,

or cleaning our houses.

If I only give lip-service and not

heart-service to God, then I am

leaving myself wide open for other

gods. If other things do not take over,

self most surely will. Trying to

worship and serve both self and Godresults in halfheartedness in time,

talents, and money. Our pastor once

said: "We have to have a glory to live

for-if not God's, then our own. And if

we live for our own glory, we are

always bumping into someone else

living for his own glory!"

A few years ago I read that a

good question to ask anyone is, "Tell

me who you are in three sentences."

In my best teenag e sneakiness, I tried

it on my parents. I thought I could

really put them on the spot, but theyboth came through w ith flying colors.

Both were completely aware that they

first belonged to God. I doubt that my

first answer would have been so

thoughtful. Perhaps we each need to

sit and think every so often just who

we are and wh at is most important to

us.

In a recent Sunday school class

we were asked how long it had been

No Other Gods



15

since we had witnessed to someone

that God is good to us. In your

conversations is it more important to

you that you let your friend know in

an indirect way that your g olf scores

are nearing the ninety mark or by

using the same sub tle ways to let him

know Whom you worship?

Let us get down to business withour devotional lives. Jesus asked in

almost pleading tones, "Learn of Me."

This is where the strength will come.

This is a guarantee against those

graven images, or of self creeping into

first place. The peace which passes all

understanding will be there and

suddenly it will not be such a chore to

attend church or to help with other

church activities. It will be amazing

how easy it will become to tell others

of the God we worship and the power

He gives to make our lives

tremendously satisfying.

This is serious business. Like theathlete, we should run to win and let

nothing-absolutely nothing-get in our

way of keeping God the one Ruler of

our lives.

We will find, if we persist in

trying to crowd God out of first place,

that the late-model car, the new

French provincial furniture, the

influential friends, the educational

degrees, the large-membered church

to serve, the popularity as a church

member-all these will leave a dull

taste in our mouths. Regardless of

how many poor people we feed, how

much money we give to the church,even how many people we bring to

Christ-all these will be to no avail

unless we indeed remember that God

comes first.

Clarice Rose

Prayer

Prayer is to the soul what breathing is to the body; and we can no more live a strong, healthy,spiritual life without prayer than we can live a good, healthy, physical life without breathing. The

secret place of prayer is to the soul a coating station, a watering place, a resting place, a fable filled

with good things. Prayer is to the soul what steam is to the engine, gasoline is to the car, and water

to the garden.

The neglect of prayer is dangerous to the soul. One had better neglect his meals or forget to go to

be d th an to for ge t or neg le ct to ho ld sw ee t co mmunion an d blessed fe llow sh ip with his Heave nly

Father. It is here we get renewed strength, Heavenly wisdom, greater love, and a deeper, closer walk

with God.

Prayer is the heart-cry of a child to his Father for a real need. The Father knows, hears and answers.

Prayer will give one a good appetite for the Word of God. Prayer moves the arm of the Almighty God.

He has promised to do of our request. Without prayer the Christian soon becomes a fruitless,

po werless , jo yless, us eless pro fessor . Prayer st reng th en s ev ery ab id in g grace, an d thr ou gh it we areled to deeper depths and higher heights.

Prayer is asking favors of God our Father, giving Him thanks for His sweet blessings, and listening

to His sweet voice. Meditation is a part of our prayer life. To be still and let God speak to your inmost

soul through His W ord is indeed sweet.

Prayer changes things, moves things, and brings to pass. Keep a real love in your heart for the

secret place of prayer if you want to prosper and have good success in your soul and in the Lord's

work. Prayer prepares the preacher for the pulpit and the Christian for the pew. A good, hungry

church, prayed up, and a preacher prayed through and on fire will help bring revival.

Prayer is the main-spring to the soul. The prayerless life is like flowers with no sweet fragrance,

a tree with no fruit, a cloud with no rain, a cistern with no water, a well gone dry, or a garden with

only weeds. Secret prayer alone with God in sweet communion is the secret of having a good spiritual

appetite, rapid growth in grace, and a successful Christian life.The first great means of a revival is prayer, the second great means is more prayer, and the third

great means is praying clear through. Then, to keep it going, keep on praying.

Prayer is the power that moves the drive wheels and keeps things in motion. Enough prayer and

waiting on God will cause some Joshua, who is humble enough, to hear God's voice say, "Clean up

the church."

We cannot pray without the Spirit of God to help our infirmities with groanings which cannot be

uttered. Oh, for the outpouring of God's Spirit on His saints everywhere, an outpouring of

old-fashioned prayer-prevailing prayer.



16

Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of thechurch of Ephesus write; These thingssaith he that holdeth the seven stars inhis right hand, who walketh in the midstof the seven golden candlesticks;

2 know thy works, and thy labour,and thy patience, and how thou canstnot bear them which are evil: and thou

hast tried them which say they are apos-tles, and are not, and hast found themliars:

3 And hast borne, and hast pa-tience, and for my name's sake hastlaboured, and hast not fainted.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhatagainst thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5 Remember therefore from whencethou art fallen, and repent, and do the

first works; or else 1 will come unto theequickly, and will remove thy candlestickout of his place, except thou repent.

Revelation 3:13 He that hath anear, let him hear what the Spirit saithunto the churches.

14 And unto the angel of the churchof the Laodiceans write; These thingssaith the Amen, the faithful and truewitness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15 I know thy works, that thou artneither cold nor hot: I would thou wertcold or hot.

Brother Charlie Green

Have You Lost Something?

Though we preach the Word ofGod under the anointing of theSpirit, I am concerned that somepeople look upon the man who isdoing the preaching and fail to real-ize that the authority comes from theWord of God. Through the messageof the Gospel, Jesus Christ is themeasuring rod, measuring out His

Truth to hearts. If people kick upagainst the message, they are kick-ing against Jesus Christ, the Authorand the Finisher of our faith.

Dear one, we are living in a dayand age when the fear of God andreverence and respect for the man ofGod, the Word of God, and the Spir-it of God have been lost. This iswhat happened to the people in theLaodicean church. Today we are

living in the Laodicean age, andthose spirits are knocking on each ofour heart's doors, trying to get us tolose reverence and the fear of Godfor the message of God. When God'sWord goes forth, you need to forgetwho is preaching and give heed tothe message that God has sent. Aman's personality has nothing to dowith it. If you refuse the Gospelmessage, you are refusing Jesus

Christ. You cannot take just a littleportion of Him. Some people wantto take only a little bit of the Gospelmessage that suits their fancy. Broth-er, sister, you must take it all,whether you like it or not.

If you are not careful, you willget in the same condition that thepeople in our Scripture lesson did.What was that? Jesus spoke to themfrom His Word, and His Spirit

knocked at their hearts' doors, butthey said, in so many words, "We donot need that." When one gets in thatshape, he is in terrible trouble withGod. Sad to say, many people aredoing the same thing the Laodiceanchurch did. They are talking back toChrist. They put the message onothers instead of letting the HolySpirit write it upon the tables oftheir hearts. They need a revival in

their hearts, but they fail to realize it.Dear one, is a revival needed in

your heart? Do you need a revivalthat will prick your heart as neverbefore and cause you to be moresensitive to the Spirit of God? Doyou need a revival to bring back afervent prayer life before God Al-mighty? If you are not careful, youwill lose the fervency from yourprayer life.



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Seek God Earnestly

In Haggai, Chapter 1, we canread about a people who were doingtheir own thing, They were buildingtheir houses and going after thethings of the flesh. In Chapter 2 wecan see that the Spirit of God stirred

the people, and they got back to theplace where they ought to havebeen. Haggai 2:3 says, "Who is leftamong you that saw this house inher first glory? and how do ye see itnow?. . ."

Saint, how do you see theChurch of God today? Do you seeher in her first glory? Is she just asglorious to you as she was the firsttime God showed her to you?Though the old ship of Zion hasgone through many storms andmany battles, I am glad that theChurch of God still has her gloryand that God is in the midst of her.

Jesus Christ is still the Head of thechurch, and He will lead her onvictoriously. Dear one, you need tomake sure that you have clean andwhite garments, spiritually speak-ing.

The Laodicean church got insuch a state that the Christ of Cal-vary spoke to them and showed

them their true condition, but theystood up and talked back to Him.Brother, sister, whenever a circum-stance comes along that you do notunderstand or that you disagreewith, do you stand up and talk backor do you fall on your knees before

Jesus Christ and seek Him in earnestprayer? In too many cases, peoplehave become as the Laodiceanchurch.

It is necessary that you seek Godearnestly and keep first things first

when it comes to your worship toGod. I can remember back in myhome as I was growing up. Whenpeople gathered in, the first thing ontheir hearts and minds was to seekGod's face together as a group. Inever heard about church problemsor another brother or sister's prob-lems. Christian friend, if you trulyseek God in the right manner, yourprimary objective will not be to fo-

cus on the problems around you orwhat this brother or sister has done.The Bible still teaches that love cov-ers a multitude of sins. Love doesnot cause one to go around knockingon doors and calling people to talkabout a brother or a sister.

People need to get back to 2

Chronicles 7:14, which states, "If mypeople, which are called by myname, shall humble themselves, andpray, and seek my face, and turnfrom their wicked ways; then will Ihear from heaven, and will forgivetheir sin, and will heal their land."Notice that the Lord said, "If mypeople." Who is that? That is theChurch of the Living God. He said"If my people, which are called bym y n a m e , s h a l l h u m b l ethemselves . . . ." You cannot reallyseek God unless you humble your-self.

Saint, do you remember how itwas when you were convicted ofyour sins? You were humble, andthere was no pride left in you; youwere broken, and you humbledyourself at the foot of the Cross andreceived help. What makes youthink it is going to be any different ifyou receive help from God today? Ifwe want healing for our land and

healing for the church, we musthumble ourselves and seek God'sface in a much greater way. It is onething to talk about fellowship, but itis another to practice it from theheart. It is time to pull back the cov-ers and let the measuring rod ofGod's eternal Truth reveal condi-tions as He sees them. If you do riotallow the measuring rod to real yourtrue condition, you are in bad shape.

Consider Your Ways

Let us go to Haggai, Chapter 1,to see why people lost sight of theglory of the Church of the LivingGod. Today there is a drifting awayfrom people seeing the beauty ofGod's house. Why is it so hard to getpeople to reverence God? This spiritis working on people more than theywant to admit, and God wants youto understand and see conditions as

they truly are. When a true man ofGod sees these spirits working onpeople, he will stand up and cry out,to warn the people of the sword thatis coming upon the land. These un-clean spirits are working on the peo-ple of God.

Haggai 1:2-4 reads, "Thus speak-

eth the LORD of hosts, saying, Thispeople say, The time is not come, thetime that the LORD'S house should bebuilt [these people had gotten a spir-it of indifference and neglect con-cerning the house of God and thework of God]. Then came the wordof the LORD by Haggai the prophet,saying, Is it time for you, O ye, todwell in your ceiled houses, and thishouse lie waste?" The Prophet wasspeaking of God's house. At thattime God's work lay dormant be-cause the people had lost their desireand their motivation to work in thehouse of God, or God's temple, yetthey were busy. Jesus said to seekfirst the Kingdom of God. That doesnot mean only when you get saved;it means continually, until you laydown the robe of flesh.

The people in Haggai's day wereliving in their ceiled houses, but theywere letting the house of God andthe work of God lie desolate. The

Prophet came along to stir them. Hesaid in Haggai 1:5, "Now thereforethus saith the LORD of hosts; Con-sider your ways." God is mercifuland considerate. Therefore, he isasking you to consider your ways.How do you see this house? Youcannot see the Church of God anymore glorious or precious than youvalue your personal experience withGod. Are you lazy and slothful con-cerning your spiritual house? Doyou need a revival of truly seeking

God's face for your needs? You needto seek God as never before.

I mentioned a Scripture earlierin this message concerning love.This is an agape love. Let us readwhat Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8:"And above all things have ferventcharity among yourselves: for char-ity shall cover the multitude of sins."That does not mean we should putour approval upon them, but if a



18

person does commit sin, you oughtto work to restore such a one, lestyou also be tempted. It is harder fora backslider to get back to Godwhen he has to climb over and un-der and around things that havebeen said. If you are not careful,your ears will become as a garbage

dump.

"Break Up Your Fallow Ground"

We are living in a very danger-ous age. In this battle of Armaged-don, the battle is between right andwrong. The devil has one thing inmind, and that is to bring the saintsdown to where they just talk and donot spend enough time seeking God.Is a revival needed in your heart?Let the measuring rod check you.Do you spend more time talkingthan you do seeking God in prayer?

Jesus, our example, stole away topray often. He was abused, criti-cized, spit on, mocked, andscourged. He suffered more than allof us put together would suffer in alifetime, yet He opened not Hismouth. Many times He spent thenight on His knees seeking God,seeking His power and strength forthe deliverance He needed and for

the suffering He had to go through. Jesus saw the value of souls.How many people are out on

the highway of sin because theycannot climb over an old, criticalspirit or an old, gossiping spirit? Ifmore people who claim to be saintswould pray more and talk less, therewould be far fewer problems. It istime to let the measuring rod of Godbring the correction that is needed.The Church of God is destined forHeaven. She is on the way, whether

you are or not. You are only going tobe in the old ship of Zion if you hearthe Word and let the Word and theSpirit of God do the pruning, thechastising, and the rebuking that isnecessary. The devil is trying towork, and it is time to humble your-self and pray and seek God, andthen He will bring healing to ourland.

Often it takes real effort to get to

the place where people will humblethemselves. Why is that? There istoo much pride in their hearts. Whatdo people need to do? Hosea 10:12instructs, "Sow to yourselves in righ-teousness, reap in mercy; break upyour fallow ground: for it is time toseek the LORD, till he come and rain

righteousness upon you." What isfallow ground? It is hard groundthat needs to be broken up. Youneed to allow the Word of God to beas a hammer. Have you allowedyour heart to become hard?

How does one's heart becomehard? One way is by not living themessage. When you do not walk inthe light that God gives you, yourspirit can become insensitive andfeel that you have need of nothing.

Jesus often speaks through the Wordof God to show you a need. If yourefuse to obey the Spirit of God, youhave too much pride. Once yourheart becomes hard, you can becomedeceived and become as theLaodicean church was. Though themessage comes straight to yourheart, you will say, "I have need ofnothing." The next thing you know,you will be saying, "That's just whatthe preacher thinks." Well, you canthink that for the rest of your livingdays, but you will end up lost.

The Gospel will let you knowright where you are, and then it isup to you to do what you know youought to do. What are you going todo? Are you going to allow theWord of God to break up your fal-low ground? Are you going to allowHim to control your tongue? Yousaid you would go with Him all theway. The only way a revival cantake place in your heart is to humbleyourself and earnestly seek God infervent prayer.

Do you need help along any ofthe lines that I mentioned in thismessage? Remember, God said, "Ifmy people, which are called by myname, shall humble themselves, andpray, and seek my face, and turnfrom their wicked ways; then will Ihear from heaven, and will forgivetheir sin, and heal the land."

(Cassette C-2308A)

Surrender

This life is so uncertainEvery moment lying fast,O my dear one, turn to Jesus,Death and hell will come at

last.

Jesus gives you time to serveHim

Do not waste these flyinghours;

For they vanish oh, so quicklyLike the dried and withered

flowers.

All your life's a fleeting vapor,How soon 'twill all he past;But the joy of serving JesusWill the universe outlast.

How the worldly things allure you,

And old Satan holds you fast.Turn to Jesus–do it quicklyHe'll forgive your guilty past.

He will break the power thatholds you

In a life of sin and shame;He will give you life eternal,For that's why from Heaven

He came.

You've been warned by thosewho love you,

"Come to Jesus, come justnow. "

Do not wait until the deathsweat

Lies so cold upon your brow.

If You gain a world of pleasure And you lose your soul at last, You'll regret it then foreverFor your dark and guilty past.

Heed the call when first youhear it;

Don't put off from day to day.Quickly come to Christ your

SaviorWalk the straight and narrow

way.

Paul T. Tarbert



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Habakkuk 3:17 Although the figtree shall not blossom, neither shall fruitbe in the vines; the labour of the oliveshall fail, and the fields shall yield nomeat; the f flock shall be cut off from the

fold, and there shall be no herd in thestalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD , I will joy in the God of my salvation.19 The LORD God is my strength, and

he will make my feet like hinds' feet, andhe will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Brother E. David Stegmeier

Triumphant Faith in God

Another translation of this Scrip-ture passage says: "Even though thefig trees are all destroyed, and thereis neither blossom left for fruit; andthough the olive crops all fail; andthe fields lie barren; even if the

flocks die in the fields; and the cattlebarns are empty, yet will I rejoice inthe Lord" (verses 17-18). God haslaid upon my heart the need of hav-ing a faith without doubt or discour-agement, a triumphant faith in God.The Christian's attitude should be,"No matter what I see or experience,I will rejoice in God." God is in con-trol. The church is His and the workis His. Nothing can thwart the on-

ward march of the Church of God.She will go forward; she is invinci-ble. The Book of Habakkuk waswritten by a minor prophet whoprophesied during the reign of

Jahoachin, who was a very wickedman. The Word says he was evil inthe sight of the Lord. During this

time, the Prophet saw many discour-aging things, just as God's peoplesee many discouraging things today.Many things happen that coulddaunt your faith or progress forGod. Let us not look at the condi-tions, but let us look to God and HisWord. One song says, "There is nouse to tell me That God will prove un-true, For I have tried him, brother, Andknow what he will do." I have tried

God, and He has never proven un-true.

Romans 15:4 says, "For whatso-ever things were written aforetimewere written for our learning, [Wecan learn many lessons from the OldTestament. Some people have said,'Brother Stegmeier, you preach often

from the Old Testament.' My replyis, 'There is much to be learned fromthe Old Testament.' We can learn alesson from this passage of Scrip-ture.] that we through patience [Weall need patience in this walk withGod. He will vindicate His peopleand His Word; just be patient. Luke21:19 tells us, 'In your patience pos-sess ye your souls.'] and comfort ofthe scriptures might have hope." We



20

can get comfort from the Scriptures,and we should derive more patienceas we study the Word of God.

Another translation says, "Thesethings that were written in the Scrip-tures so long ago are to teach uspatience and to encourage us." God'speople need invincible faith that will

triumph in every situation. TheseScriptures were written to teachpatience and to bring encourage-ment so that God's people wouldlook forward expectantly to the timewhen God would conquer sin anddeath and bring all of this to pass.He said He would bring down thehigh places of the devil. The for-tresses of the devil can be conqueredthrough faith in God, through pray-er, and through patience. Situationsthat came upon the saints of Godhappened for our examples. If youlack faith or if you are discouraged,you need to get alone with God andread the Word. Sometimes friendswill disappoint you or lead youastray, but God never will. If youare in tune with God, He plans yourlife perfectly. If you keep the fleshsubdued and in the background,God's will shall be done.

Growing in Faith

In our Scripture text this exam-ple of what happened to Habakkukshould be an encouragement to you,child of God. His faith and trust inGod should inspire you, strengthenyou, and bolster your faith and hopein God. Faith is inspired andstrengthened by hearing and read-ing the Word of God, not by readingthe newspaper, by listening to thenews on the radio, or by talking onthe telephone. The Scripture tells us

in Romans 10:17, "So then faith com-eth by hearing, and hearing by theword of God." As the Word of Godis preached, believed, and practiced,you should grow in faith. I haveseen people in the same congrega-tion who have grown tremendouslyand others who have withered anddied spiritually. Nevertheless, if youwill listen and practice what youhear from the man of God, you will

grow in faith. Faith comes fromGod, but the Word is the instrumentthat brings it. It flows through yourpastor. Therefore, when one receivesand believes and practices the Wordof God that has been preached, hewill grow.

Hebrews 4:2 says, "For unto us

was the gospel preached, as well asunto them: but the word preacheddid not profit them, not being mixedwith faith in them that heard it." Youmust believe and practice the Wordof God in order for it to benefit you.Unbelief hinders many people fromreceiving the Word of God and ben-efiting from it. Unbelief is one of ourgreatest enemies today, and it isalways present.

The Book of Habakkuk is sel-dom referred to or read, yet it has atremendous lesson. The Prophet'svery serious message is one that youand I can benefit from today. Thepeople in that period of time weresinking deeper and deeper into sinand idolatry. As we look aroundtoday, we can see that our world issinking much deeper into sin andungodliness. Things once done be-hind closed doors are done openlytoday. The devil is trying to desensi-tize God's people and get them to

accept this ungodliness when it is180 percent wrong! May God helpus today.

Habakkuk had prophesiedabout the impending judgments ofGod, and they are coming. For manypeople these judgments have al-ready come, but for others the judg-ments are yet coming. For a periodof time it seemed that God was un-moved by the situation. Have youever wondered, "Where is God in allof this?" At times God seems un-

moved and unaffected by ungodli-ness; nevertheless, God sees it, andHe is in control. Someone may say,"Evil outweighs the good, and theungodly outnumber the godly." Thathas been true since the dawn oftime. In Noah's time how manyministers encouraged him? He wasthe only man of God in the entireworld. Do you feel that you are theonly one standing true? No, God has

many godly men all over the world.I do not know who they all are, butGod does. God's people are in con-tact with Him; they have no earthlyheadquarters. God is still in control.The church is not controlled by thePope, a bishop, a group of men, or agroup of ministers. God alone gov-

erns and controls the church. It hasalways been that way, and it alwayswill be.

What did God's people do inancient times when they did nothave telephones or airplanes to fly toget together to confer? The HolySpirit told people in China, England,South America, and Greenland thevery same Truth. The Holy Spiritstill works that way yet today. He isnot dead in the streets; He is alive inthe Church of God. He is not sick;He is alive and well. Praise Godforever! In our Scripture text theProphet's faith was being severelytested and tried. Job was also tested.Child of God, sometimes your faithwill be tested and tried.

The Prophet was having a tre-mendous struggle in his mind. Doyou ever have a terrible struggle inyour mind? Sometimes I have had astruggle, wondering, "Lord, howabout all of this? What is going on?"

Sometimes I ask Him, "Lord, whatcan I do? I would like to talk to peo-ple, but I cannot force others to dowhat is right." Godly people can bereasoned with, taught easily, and ledeasily, but they should understandwhat the Truth is. We are not blind-ly led.

The Prophet Habakkuk had atremendous struggle. Doubts as-sailed and the fiery darts of the devilwere mercilessly hurled at him.Saint of God, the devil will have no

mercy on you. He has no mercy onany congregation proclaiming theTruth, so do not ask the devil formercy. It is something that he doesnot have. Paul said, "Quit you likemen" (1 Corinthians 16:13).

Be Steadfast and Unmovable

In our Scripture text, no doubt,the enemy was relentless in his ef-



21

forts to disturb the Prophet of God.The devil is relentless yet today; hewill not leave you alone. Do youthink you are going to have a re-prieve for a while? No. Sometimes Isay, "Lord, it just seems that I can'tgo a step further." Have you everfelt that way? Sometimes you need

to step out in faith, no matter whatyou see or how you feel. Child ofGod, step into the waters, and theywill recede.

Habakkuk probably had manyperplexing questions. Has the ques-tion ever loomed up in your mind,"Why doesn't God intervene? Isn'tHe watching? Doesn't He see whatis going on?" Have you ever won-dered, "Does Jesus care?" Yes! Hecares, but sometimes the old devilwill cause you to wonder, "DoesGod answer prayer?" Yes, God an-swers prayer, though sometimesGod may answer differently thanthe way you expect or want Him toanswer.

Habakkuk remonstrated withthese words in Habakkuk 1:2, "OLORD, how long shall I cry, and thouwilt not hear!" Saint, you need toleave things in God's hands. He isworking and may be doing some-thing that you may never under-

stand. God's design and plan is highabove ours. His thoughts are so loftythat our finite minds may neverunderstand. You must learn to leavethings with God and know that Heis working for your good. Thewords of the Song of Moses in Deu-teronomy 32:35 read, "To me [Godwas speaking] belongeth vengeance,and recompense; their foot shallslide in due time: [In other words, indue time God will take care of it.You need to just mind your own

business, stay true to God, and obeyyour pastor. Also, you must attendthe church services every time thedoors are open; sing, pray, and tes-tify. Their feet will slide in duetime.] for the day of their calamity isat hand." Another translation saysthis: "Israel [or the church] is myspecial people, sealed as jewels with-in my treasury. Vengeance is mine,and I decree the punishment of all

our enemies. Their doom is sealed,the Lord will see His people arerighted." What is more powerfulthan the Word of God? A real spiritof peace and tranquility is in a con-gregation when the people resigneverything to Him.

The Bible is God's work. Let us

look at the rest of the story. In theend of the Book of Habakkuk, wesee the Prophet triumphing. Weread of his beginning to gain thevictory. Habakkuk 2:4 says, "The justshall live by his faith." If you are notliving by faith or living according towhat you see, you will be up anddown spiritually. God wants you tobe consistent. A "fair-weather Chris-tian" is one who decides to stay inbed instead of going to church if it israining. If he gets up in the morningand it is ninety degrees, he says, "It'stoo hot. I'll stay inside where the airconditioning is." Yet, when theweather is just right, he says, "This isa good time to go fishing." Godwants you to be a consistent Chris-tian who is steadfast and unmov-able.

Habakkuk said, "The just shalllive by his faith." Once Habakkuk'sfaith began to take hold of God'spromises, his doubts and misgivings

flew away. Saint, your faith is beingsorely tried. Situations may troubleand threaten you, but God is in con-trol. You need to have triumphantfaith in God and never give it up.

The Key to Maintaining Victory

Habakkuk is an excellent exam-ple to us. No matter what happened,the Prophet said, "I will rejoice in theLord." You will have moments whenyou are driven by the enemy to

doubt and become discouraged withconditions. However, you should bedriven closer to God in these situa-tions. You need to take the exampleof the Prophet and get alone withGod. Child of God, what should youdo in troublesome times? Shouldyou get on the telephone and spreadit all across the country. No! Youneed to get alone with God. Find asolitary place and pray. There is a

song that says:

When storms of life around me beating,When rough the path that I have trod,Within my closet door retreating,I love to be alone with God.

Alone with God, the world forbidden;

Alone with God, oh blest retreat. Alone with God and in Him hidden,To hold with Him communion sweet.

What, though the clouds have gatheredo'er me

What, though I pass beneath the rod,God's perfect will there lies before meWhen I am thus alone with God.

Too many victories are lost andtoo many people are misled by con-ferring with flesh and blood insteadof conferring with God. One poetsaid, "Tis there I find new strength for duty, As o'er the sands of time I plod. lsee the King in all His beauty Whileresting there alone with God." Whenyou are troubled with the thoughtthat God has withdrawn Himselffrom the problems of the world andyou wonder if He has abandonedthe church, you need to get alonewith God and meditate on HisWord. Habakkuk said, "I will stand

upon my watch" (Habakkuk 2:1). Inother words, Habakkuk was saying,"In these times I had better bewatchful, because the devil willcome with his fiery darts and dis-couraging thoughts. Therefore, I willwatch my heart and guard my atti-tudes." Saint, you need to watch thethoughts that permeate your mind.Ask yourself, "What is the source ofthese thoughts? Where are thesethoughts coming from?" In times ofgreat trouble and deep waters, you

need to focus your attention on Godand His Word.

At a certain time in the PsalmistDavid's life, he struggled withthoughts in a similar situation. TheBible says that he went into the sanc-tuary of God, and there he under-stood their end (Psalm 73:17). Introublesome times, getting to thehouse of worship is extremely im-portant. Friend, when you are dis-



22

couraged and times are rough, youneed to get to church. You shouldnever lay out of church. That iswhere you can receive an under-standing of the Truth. Often it seemsthat people who have left the Truthare prospering. When you see them,they say, "Praise the Lord! We're

doing great!" However, do not for-get that God will have the finalword.

Live Accordingly toRighteous Principles

Habakkuk said, "I will standupon my watch." Saint, you mustnever give way to doubts and bitter-ness against God. Do not be wound-ed by fiery darts. The answers to allyour questions need to comethrough the Spirit of God, the Wordof God, and the man of God. If youlook at people, you may stumbleand fall. Too many people are af-fected by what others do. We sing asong which says that many start inthe race, but not very many will evergo through.

Child of God, if you are going tobe strong in your Christian walk,you must look to God. He will neverfail you, and His Word will meet

your every need. Romans 8:31 says,"What shall we then say to thesethings? If God be for us, who can beagainst us?" The Prophet Baalamshould have taken this more seri-ously. In Numbers 23:8 he said,"How shall I curse, whom God hathnot cursed? or how shall I defy [orwork against], whom the Lord hathnot defied?" I was always taught tobe very careful of putting my fingeron a man of God. My mother taughtme that very seriously.

Why does God sometimes waitto vindicate His people? He is amerciful God. His mercy is beyondour comprehension. He is very long-suffering. Peter said in 2 Peter 3:9,"The Lord is not slack concerning hispromise, as some men count slack-ness; but is longsuffering tous-ward, not willing that any shouldperish, but that all should come torepentance." I am thankful that God

is long-suffering. He waslong-suffering with me. I have rela-tives that I am concerned about, so Iam glad that He is long-suffering. InHabakkuk 2:3 we read, "Though ittarry, wait for it [God has a time foreverything]; because it will surelycome, it will not tarry." Your faith,

your patience, and your trust in Godwill never be disappointed. All eviland wrong will ultimately come toan end.

In the last chapter of the Book ofHabakkuk, Habakkuk rested confi-dently in God. He triumphedthrough his faith in God. Many peo-ple place too much faith and trust intheir friends. Some people are tooattached to friends. Dear one, aboveall else, you need to do what is rightaccording to righteous principles.We are only the friends of God andthe friends of one another if we aretruly doing the will of God. Otherpeople place faith and trust in theirgood deeds, in their reputations, orin their family heritage. They say, "Iam a child of a great minister" or "Ihad a father who was a great Sun-day school teacher."

Some people have their faithand trust in money, false religiousrefuges, church joining, baptism,

shaking the preacher's hand, and soon. The best way to face the uncer-tain future is to reverence the Wordof God and the man of God. We donot know what is going to come inthe future. We may have to give ourlives standing for the Word of God,but I read in my Bible that God willnot do anything without warningHis prophets first. Therefore, youhad better stay close to the Prophetof God. I am going to reiterate: toprepare for the uncertain future, you

need to respect every word in theBook and respect your pastor.

Child of God, no matter whathappens, if you lose it all and be-come forsaken by all, remember thatGod will never leave you or forsakeyou. Your victory is in God. There isa song I sang many times as a boygrowing up, which says, "Faith is thevictory that overcomes the world."God is our strength and our help.

You need a triumphant, invinciblefaith in this day as in no other day.No matter what comes, you mustmaintain your faith and confidencein God. Your present discomfort orthe things that you are goingthrough are more easily borne if yourealize that God is in control. A tri-

umphant faith is possessed andgained by looking to God. It willkeep you steady in times of greattrouble and great stress.

Patiently and Faithfully Persist

Paul's admonition to the churchat Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:58was, "Therefore, my beloved breth-ren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable,always abounding in the work of theLord, forasmuch as ye know thatyour labour is not in vain in theLord." If your heart is in tune withGod, it is in tune with the Truth.

God will give you the ability towalk in high places. Again, ourScripture text says: "Although the figtree shall not blossom, neither shallfruit be in the vines; the labour ofthe olive shall fail, and the fieldsshall yield no meat; the flock shall becut off from the fold, and there shallbe no herd in the stalls [nothing to

eat]: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, Iwill joy in the God of my salvation.The LORD God is my strength, andhe will make my feet like hinds' feet,and he will make me to walk uponmine high places." In other words,you can walk in high places whilepeople exist down in the smog in thevalleys. Despite all the ugly thingsthat permeate the valleys, you canwalk in high places where the air ispure and ethereal, where your vi-sion is clear.

Child of God, you can have vic-tory over your enemies. They cannottouch you because you have hinds'feet. With the feet of a deer, you cango right up spiritual mountains. Inessence, David said, "I will look tothe mountains, from whence comethmy strength. My strength comethfrom God." God will give His peoplehinds' feet and make them to walkupon high places.



23

The prayer of Habakkuk thatstarted with apprehension, fear, andmany misgivings ended with a songof joy and praise. You must remem-ber that God has a purpose in every-thing that happens. Paul said in 2Corinthians 4:17, "For our light af-fliction, which is but for a moment,

worketh for us a far more exceedingand eternal weight of glory." Themore we go through successfullyand faithfully for God, the greaterthe glory will be. The greater thebattle, the greater the victory. Onetranslation says, "These troubles andsufferings of ours are after all quitesmall, won't last very long, yet thisshort time of distress will result inGod's richest blessings upon us forever and ever." Saint, your faith isstrengthened by the trials that youpass through. Therefore, you need topatiently and faithfully persist; stayright in there. You should accepteverything that comes to you, know-ing that it is working for your good.Possessing this kind of triumphantfaith will show the world that youhave something that they need, andthen, hopefully, they will seek whatyou have.

What are the benefits that wecan derive from having this kind of

invincible faith in God? I want youto read a song entitled "The Virtueof Faith."

As far above the howling storm,Secure from danger's reach and

harm,Triumphantly the eagle flies, My soul on wings of faith would

rise.

When raging is the tempest's blast,

Ere yet its wrath is over past– My soul would rise from earthly

woe,To leave the stormy winds below.

Upon the troubled, restless wave,His fearful, trembling ones to save,The Master walked and calmed the

sea,The wildly tossing Galilee.

By faith again I hear his voice,In tones which make my heart

rejoice,When fears my soul with terror

thrill,He gently whispers, "Peace, be

still."

The lilies clothed in garments fair,The ravens flying thro' the air–Our blessed Father cares for all;He seeth e'en the sparrow's fall;

His children more He surely loves,

Their cry His heart with pitymoves:Tho' thorns bestrew the path we've

trod,He whispers still, 'Have faith in

God.'

The waves around may fiercely roll,They cannot harm my trusting

soul;Regarding not what I may see,

My faith, O Lord, ascends to thee.

The darkest night and brazen sky Are pierced by faith's unfailing eye: My cry shall be till time shall cease,'O blessed Lord, my faith increase.'

I have often been on a plane andthe ride became bumpy. Then thepilot would say, "Just give us a littletime and we will be up above theturbulence." Christian friend, youneed to fly above the spiritual turbu-lence. The Prophet Isaiah wrote,"But they that wait upon the LORD

shall renew their strength; they shallmount up with wings as eagles; theyshall run, and not be weary; andthey shall walk, and not faint" (Isa-iah 40:31).

My prayer is, "God, help me thatmy faith will increase." If you needsomething from the Lord, He wantsto supply that need.

(Cassette C-4222M)

"THOU THEREFORE ENDURE HARDNESS AS A GOOD

SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST. " —2 TIMOTHY 2:3

"I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT. " —2 TIMOTHY 4: 7

You are enlisted, you wear the uniform, you ought to fight; victory is

certain, the honors are everlasting–think only of Him who is your "Leader

and Commander." You will have no such opportunity in Heaven. Lose no

time, then, in waking up to the consciousness that you are a soldier and

that you must learn to fight. There is no discharge in this war and no truce

with the enemy.



25

Stain on the Dress

A young couple was deliriously

happy w hen a beautiful little girl was

born. This young couple was un-saved; in fact, they had somehowgrown to hate anything and every-

thing that had anything to do with

God and H is Son Jesus Christ.

Instead of presenting the baby to the

Lord for His blessing, they made a

vow that the little girl, whom theycalled Melinda, was never to be al-

lowed to be exposed to anything that

had anything to do with Christianity.

Throughout her young girlhood, she

wasn't allowed to go to Sunday

school. When a preacher or a soulwinner from a local church visited

them, Melinda was sent to her room

before the visitors were let in.

Melinda's parents and grandpar-

ents were well-to-do. She had more

toys and dolls than she could ever

keep up w ith and ate only the best of

foods and wore the very best clothing

money could buy. Her parents made

sure of her secular and cultural train-

ing. She studied piano, voice, and

ballet with the best teachers and in-

structors that money could afford.

Her parents were doing a very good

job of keeping her away from learning

anything about the Lord.

One day Melinda's mother was

baking her husband a birthday cake

and discovered she was missing a

certain ingredient. She called her

beautiful nine-year-old daughter and

gave her some money to go to the

store to purchase what she needed.

She was instructed to go straight

down the street and come right home.

Melinda, glad to have a chance to go

out on the sunny spring day, skipped

down the street. She went into the

store and made the purchase andstarted back down the street toward

home. On her way home she de cided

it might be fun to take a different

route home, so she turned left at anthe intersection and walked up a back

street. She knew that it would inter-sect a little further up with the street

that would lead to her home, so no

harm could come of it. As she walked

along, she began to hear some pretty

singing and music. The further she

walked, the louder it became, andfinally she saw that the singing and

music was coming from a big build-

ing just across the street from her.

Melinda loved music and singing,

and she possessed the natural curios-ity of a nine year old, so she crossedthe street and e ntered into the build-

ing. Though she did not know it, this

was a mission house, and inside was

a great number of down-and-outers a

cross section of the folks from the

lower echelon of society. Many folksseated there had experienced the

regenerating power of receiving Jesus

Christ into their lives. Some were

there just fulfilling their obligation for

having been given breakfast and per-

haps som e article of clothing.As Melinda shyly entered, they

looked back and sm iled at the beauti-

ful little girl. She sat down in the

back, thinking she would stay just a

little while and listen to the group on

the podium sing. They w ere singing a

beautiful song, but one she had never

heard before.

The group finished their song,

and a pleasant-faced gentleman came

to the podium and welcomed every-

one. After a word of praye r, he began

to preach. Melinda knew she should

get up and hurry on home, but some-

thing seemed to hold her to her seat.

The preacher was talking about who

Jesus is, and the many compassionate

miracles He performed. He described

his arrest, trial, and cruel treatment

by the Roman soldiers and King

Herod, and finally His Crucifixion. At

that very time of year when lambs

were being sacrificed for a covering

for sins, Jesus Christ became the

Lamb of God, not to cover our sins

but to take them away. Jesus had

never comm itted a sin as we have, but

He took all our sins to the C ross, and

He was nailed there, shedding Hisprecious blood to cleanse us from all

sin and make us ready for Heaven.

Tears flowed from Melinda's

beautiful hazel eyes. The singinggroup came back to the podium to

join the m issionary . The piano startedand they began to sing, "There's Room

at the Cross for You." After the first

verse, they started an altar call. With

the group singing softly behind him,

the missionary said, "Some of you

have gone too long, living your lifewithout Jesus and His wonderful gift

of salvation. Here at the mission

house we have offered many of you

gifts of food, shelter and articles of

clothing. You have accepted thosegifts, and we are glad, but a greatergift is being offered–the greatest gift

ever offered to anyone–the gift of

salvation. With that gift, another won-

derful thing comes to pass: you are

adopted into the family of God and

become joint heirs with Christ."Melinda found herself walking

down the aisle to the altar in front of

the podium. Her face was streaked

with tears. A lady knelt beside Me lin-

da and hugged her. She then took the

Bible and quietly explained how shecould give her heart and life to Jesus

and be saved. Melinda prayed a sin-

ner's prayer. There was "joy unspeak-

able and full of glory" in Melinda's

heart as she left the mission house.

When she had entered into the

mission house, the sun had been shin-

ing, but now a cold rain was coming

down. Melinda knew she would be

punished for being gone so long and

worrying her parents. By the time she

arrived home, her pretty dress was

soaking wet and her blonde curls

hung limp down the side of her face.

She shivered. Melinda's mother an-

grily jerked her around to face her,

asking her questions about where she

had been for so long. Her father came

in the room with an expression on his

face that scared Melinda.

Finally, Melinda said, "Mama,

Daddy, I'm sorry I worried you by

being gone so long, but I have some-

thing wonderful to tell you. I heard



some pretty singing and music, and I

went inside a building. They told me

all about Jesus dying on a cross.

Mama, Daddy, I gave my heart to

Jesus and . . ." Me linda wa s inter-rupted by a loud anguished sound

coming from deep in her father's

throat. He uttered blasphemous pro-

fane exclamations and became as aman possessed. Melinda had never

seen her father like that, and then shesaw him strip off his heavy belt and

approach her.

Melinda's mother wept in loud cries

as her husband beat the little girl until

she fell to the floor, mercifully passing

out. For two days Melinda was con-fined to her bedroom. The harsh beat-

ing had left not only bruises, but some

lacerations. Her mother applied oint-

ments and alcohol rub, saying very

little, and sometimes with tears in hereyes.

The morning of the third day,

Melinda awakened with a raging

fever and raspy breathing. A doctor

was summoned; his diagnosis being

double pneumonia. Those were the

days before penicillin was availableand several medications were tried,

but Melinda's condition only wors-

ened. The fever raged on and Melinda

moved in and out of consciousness,

sometimes murmuring bits and pieces

of the wonderful things she had heard

at the mission. Her mother sat by her

bed patting her forehead with a cold

cloth. The doctor came by b riefly, but

left sadly shaking his head.

Just before dark Melinda sat up inbed and called for her mother. Her

mother, having lost many hours of

sleep, had dozed off when she was

awakened by Melinda's call. Whenshe saw her sitting up in bed, it gave

her a happy heart. She thought thefever had broke and there would be a

chance for Melinda to recover after

all.

"Mama," M elinda said softly.

"Yes, sweetheart, I'm here."

"Mama, I want you to bring methe dress I was we aring that day."

"No, honey," her mother groaned.

"You don't want to see that thing. It

was soiled and torn and had some

bloodstains on it. I threw it in thetrash."

"Please, Mama, go and get it for

me."

"But why, Melinda?" her mother

protested.

Melinda's father appeared in the

doorway of the bedroom with guiltand grief w ritten all over his haggard

face. Melinda had lain back down

again, closing her eyes. She hadn't

seen her father enter. She spoke

softly, but loud enough fo r both par-

ents to hear her final words here on

earth. "Mama, an angel came and told

me I would be going to Heaven soon,

and I wanted to take the dress with

me so I could show Jesus that I shed

some blood for Him . . . .""Suffer the little children to come

unto me, and forbid them not: for of

such is the kingdom of God." (Mark

10:14)"And Jesus called a little child

unto him, and set him in the midst ofthem, And said, Verily I say unto you,

Except ye be converted, and become

as little children, ye shall not enter

into the kingdom of heaven. Whoso-

ever therefore shall humble himself as

this little child, the same is greatest inthe kingdom of heaven. And whoso

shall receive one such little child in

my name receiveth me. But whoso

shall offend one off these little ones

which believe in me, it were better forhim that a millstone were hangedabout his neck, and that he were

drowned in the depth of the sea."

(Matthew 18:2-6)

"But they that wait upon the Lord

shall renew their strength; they shall

mount up with wings as eagles; theyshall run, and not be weary; and they

shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah

40:31)

Selected

[Guest Editorial--continued from page 2]

his hand, and take also of the tree of

life, and eat, and live for ever." There

are some truths that we must under-

stand to clearly view this verse.

In Revelation, Chapter 22, we can see

the tree of life. John was in the midst

of receiving a vision. Revelation 9:17

states, "And thus I saw . . . in the vi-

sion." Revelation 1:1 tells us the na-

ture of that vision: ". . . he sent and

signified . . . ." The word signified

means "revealed by signs." Webster's

Dictionary tells us that a sign is a sym-

bol. Therefore, the nature of this vi-

sion is symbolic.

What was John viewing when he

saw that scene? To properly under-

stand it, we must go to Revelation,

Chapter 21, where it began. Revela-

tion 21:2 says, "And I John saw the

holy city, new Jerusalem, coming

down from God out of Heaven, pre-

pared as a bride adorned for her hus -

band." Here we see, in figurative

expressions, the institution of the

church coming down from God o ut of

Heaven on the Day of Pentecost. How

do we know that? John said, "I saw

the holy city, new Jerusalem ." What

is Jerusalem a figure of? Hebrews

12:22-23 tells us: "But ye are come

unto mount S ion, and unto the city of

the living God [Revelation 21:2 calls it

the holy city, which is the same en-

tity], the heavenly Jerusalem [which is

the same as the New Jerusalem that

John spoke of], and to an innume rab le

company of angels, To the general

assembly . . . ." These expressions

denote the various attributes and

facets of what he called in the next

phrase the "church of the firstborn."

He was showing the divine nature of

God's church, how she came down

from God out of Heaven.

When did the church come downfrom God out of Heaven? Acts 2:1-2says: "And when the day of Pentecostwas fully come, they were all withone accord in one place. And sud-denly there came a sound from heav-en as of a rushing mighty wind, and itfilled all the house where they weresitting." This is a picture of the morn-ing time when the church came downfrom God on the D ay of Pentecost andwas instituted in A.D. 33. The Holy

Ghost came down from God out ofHeaven. Rom ans 8:10 tells us that theSpirit is life. On the D ay of Pen tecostGod let the New Jerusalem comedown out of Heaven. Through thepersonality of the Holy Spirit, Hegave life to the believers and quick-ened them and made them new crea-tures so they could live and walk innewness of life.

Brother Earl R. Borders

Gospel Trumpeter 2000.July

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