Fundamental Bible Preaching

a New Sermon Against Apostates and Idolatry

2008-01-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

LIVE RADIO: During this Live radio broadcast, pastor Slattery exposes and reports on some of the more Locally insane abominations that are gaining in momentum as the papist fill the land with more and more of their wolf-lings.This migration of the MASS through the importation of millions of papists from Mexico and other Latin American countries is akin to the same thing that happened a century ago with the MASS migration of the papists from Ireland and Germany. We got the Pagan holidays of christMASS and Easter infused throughout the protestant and baptist Churches through those 100 years ago and we are going to be getting even more through this new migration today. The desire to have a ONE WORLD CHURCH of the DELUSIONAL is the goal. Semiramis Apparitions, and other Babylonian/Canaanite MADONNA worship is the front line attack.Notice that the TREES and GROVES are still very popular amongst the pagans posing as Christendom? Notice how the news media portrays these pagans as ' the Christian norm'? Well you have not seen anything yet. through the stories that pastor Slattery gleaned from SermonAudio.com's new archives you will see just how far and how utterly ridiculous this is becoming. Be ready to be mad ... mad enough to search the scriptures..This is not a sermon that you might want to share with your tender Catholic Friends without a word of warning. Remember they stoned Paul and Steven and, well almost everyone else they could get their hands on, when ever strong preaching and references were given to their idolatry... ( CALLING IT WHAT IT IS) is sometimes a dangerous calling.... Are you called?or will you be culled........

Next.....

During this meeting pastor Slattery addresses the issues of the so called Mary Apparitions, Plus a whole lot more. The Paganization of America is in full swing now that the borders are coming down and the Papists are swarming in.. It's all in the plan folks.. bring down the false Gods to earth so they can teach man to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. OK that was the first part. In the second part pastor Slattery opens the Bible to Acts 14 and shows how nothing has changed only the names and places have been changed to protect the spiritually political, and the religiously challenged. This meeting is the continuation of the radio program, also on Sermon Audio called 'Faux Mary, More Abominations'

The idea that a heavenly being would manifest it's self in a grilled cheese sandwich, or in a window pane, or in a piece of candy is simply foolish. .. let alone the God of all the Universe doing it... Anyway Share these TWO messages with all your friends...

RADIO BROADCAST PART ONE Click HERE

SERMON FROM CHURCH PART TWO Click HERE

Whithersoever thou goest...And other Lies christians Tell

2007-10-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

How many have said to the LORD... 'I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest'
How many have told the preacher that they will serve the Lord at their church no matter what...
LIARS...
Most folks just SAY things... They do not mean them.
What they really meant to say was that, as long as Jesus is doing what I WANT HIM TO DO, I will follow him.
When Jesus leads them away from Halloween, Christmas Easter and other pagan celebrations contrary to the word of God they part company.
When the Bible takes a stand against spiritual fornication and the pastor makes the application to the very things that I am doing, I am leaving.
I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest... As Long we don't go to Poor town, Or Poverty ville, or persecution-berg. Lord I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest... LIARS
OH Preacher , I will do what I can... LIAR.. you will do what you want to, not what you can. If Folks did, things would be different.
Oh Preacher, when I get my settlement, When My insurance pays off, when I sell my house, when I win the lottery, when I get a good Job, I will give the church all kinds of money, buy a van, a bus, property give to missions etc.. LIARS LIARS..
LIKE MOST FOLKS. They SAY they are going to Serve God, when in fact they are going to do no such thing.
Thank God, Jesus did not lie to Us when he said whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Shall be saved.
Thank God he told the truth about Heaven and Hell and Forgiving faith.
Please click on the Photo of one of the Lord's Sunset above to Listen to the Sermon "Whithersoever thou goest"

America the Judged or America the Repentant

2007-07-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

CLICK THE PICTURE ABOVE
to Listen to
AMERICA THE JUDGED
or
AMERICA THE REPENTANT

46 Million Abortions per year world wide 1 per woman

in her a life time.

1.3 Million in the US. I wonder where a bunch the

rest are coming from.. can you say CHINA.

Sure the Abortionists run on about rape and incest,

yet over 93% are for strictly Social Reasons with

less then 1 % coming from the former list.

OH the POOR.. The POOR!? a majority of women having

the Abortions are making over 30K  way over.

Ohh the poor things... The bible says they are

whores. Now here is another issue. WHY have the

churches of America conspired with the Public

Educational system to convince all the young ladies

and gentlemen that they should Wait till their mid

20s to their 30s?

The problem is not with the little whores and whore

mongers, it is with the Pastors and Parents and the

Governments that encouraged them.

When America won the Revolution the British played '

the world is turned upside down'

America is well upside down like Ephraim she is a

cake not turned. Over done and waiting to be thrown

away.

Repentance is the only solution. But America will

not listen. Her Pastors have brought about the

prophesy of a famine of hearing the word of GOD.

The Bible states ' The wicked shall be turned into

Hell and all the nations that forget God Psalm 9:17

Please share with you friends you want woke up.

Some Sermons to Get ya going....

2007-06-22T22:37:00.001-07:00

Audio Sermons,Click the BLUE titles for Sermons and lessons

Jesus is the The ONLY WAY.. PS. The pope is a litter Bug

Sermon Summery:
They all think there are many ways to God yet Jesus Said otherwise. Jesus is the Way Truth and Life.

Everyone else, Everthing Else, every other way is a lie from hell.

The pope is a litter bug, AT BEST.

Well how many folks think that they have a way. and they will stick to it till death and defend it to the very end only to find out that what they thought was the very end was really just the beginning of an eternity in hell and eventually the lake of fire.

How deceptive can a false prophet be..
Just watch almost anyone on TBN. Just go to a Masonic lodge or a Catholic Church or a Buddhist Temple or any other place of spiritual ill repute.
All have sinned and come short of he Glory of God.
There is ONLY ONE WAY to be forgiven and washed from your sins. That is to come to the Way the Truth and the LIFE.

John 14:1-7
John 5:23
John 8:24
John 17
John 13:17

Benny Hinn is a False Prophet. Here is the Proof

This Lord's Day bible class started out with a series of PROOFS that Benny Hin is a False prophet. LIsten to him for yourself pretend to be led by the spirit as he LIES pretending to follow the spirit. This is a sermon that will make lots of folks very uncomfortable if they watch TBN. The second part of the class is a lesson expounding on the radio show earlier in the day on the false doctrine of calling clergy 'Father'.

What does the bible say about the use of the word father in relationships? Where does the idea come from for calling a religious leader 'Father'?
Well actually two places, ONE 'the talmudic Christ rejectors' and two the Roman pagans. The Roman Papist apostates picked up the custom andturned it into a method of control and manipulation. Please share this with your friends. It like a two subject sermon wraped into one lesson.

Bottom line is Pastor Slattery blasts away the vain traditions of men. Exposing them to the word of God.

History:
The anglicans and a few other catholics have
Reverend... Right Reverend.... Very Reverend ....MOST Reverend ..

The Oxford Movement and its papist influence is also touched, and how it was used to drag the anglicans even closer to the Cult of Rome. Cult begets cult.. Cult returns to Cult..

OH to be seen of Men....

Men calling other men HOLY FATHER?

Why do men who are elected POPE change their names?
Pastor Slattery says... 'Don't call me Reverend.'

What does it matter? listen to find out..

Call no man Father...P.S. Don't Call me Reverend Either

Matthew 23:9

Titles of spiritual nobility! Oh what a web of false doctrine has been spun with the introduction of refering to spiritual leaders as Fathers, Reverends, Rabbi's etc.

In This radio broadcast Pastor Slattery leaves the spiritual eliets dead in the water of the deciet they were born in.

Would you like the history of this false, damndable practice? then please listen to this Radio broadcast and then listen to the bible study that followed it. Some of the same material plus a little more in the Bible Study Class on the same day. Historical references prove that there was a combination of Talmudic Christ rejectors and Pagan Romans who invented this practice of the Catholics in calling Ratzinger and his predecessors in Rome : Pontifex Maximus, and the little holy helpers that follow him around and do whatever he says while they call themselves 'Father' under the 'HOLY Father'. Such Blasphemy! assuming to yourselves titles of GOD Almighty.

you will not here this from the Apostates Benny Hinn, TD Jakes and the rest of the Charismatic delusionals. WHY? Because they are actually on the inside and have already submitted to his hellishness in Rome.

Sure most that are not Catholics
See Bush Putin and the rest of the world leaders bow before them still.

Can't have it both ways!

2007-05-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a Sermon preached several months ago at Freedom Baptist Church. This sermom is about folks who want it both ways. Guess what you can't!

How much blood is on your hands?

2006-12-05T21:26:00.000-08:00


How many chances have you turned down to give someone the Gospel of Jesus christ. How many times have you not given the Gospel. How much Blood is on your hands. A sermon by pastor Michael Slattery

DON'T BE A FOOL

2006-10-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a sermon that was in our lord's day School Service on 10/1/2006 The Fool hath said in his heart ... THERE IS NO GOD> are you a fool too?

Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?

2005-11-11T21:49:00.000-08:00

Jehoshaphat....joined affinity with Ahab" (ii Chron. 18:1) With this statement of the chronicler we are informed of an error in judgement be the great King Jehoshaphat that let him into a war he had no business being involved in and that earned him the stern rebuke of the prophet Jehu: Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the lord" 19:2-3)
fully realizing the potential for misunderstanding, I am nevertheless convinced that there is a valid point to be made of this incident for us today and one which calls us to caution in our efforts to fight the enemies of righteousness in America.

Two kings, Jehoshaphat and Ahab, had some seemingly important things in common. Tow of the most obvious were that they had a common ancestry and a common enemy. So it seemed quite natural for Jehoshaphat, when asked by Ahab to help him in battle against that enemy to reply: I am as thou art, and My people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war" 18:3

Now while on the surface one might think Jehoshaphat justified in this endeavor, such was not the case, and for a very important reason: Jehoshaphat knew the Lord and Ahab did not! Not only so, the defeat and death of Ahab at Ramothgilead was the judgement from God on Ahab for his sinful ways as the fearless prophet Micaiah pointed out " And the Lord said, 'Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?(18:19) So for Jehoshaphat to enter the battle on the side of Ahab meant that he was entering in the plan of God against Ahab, and this amounted to helping the ungodly against God!

Here is our wanting today. Even though the cause of the ungodly and ours may seem to be a common one and even though they may at times fight the very same enemy, the purposes of god behind it are entirely different. The ungodly, and that includes ( but is not limited to) the leaders of all false cults, are likely being judged by God for their rebellion while the child of God is either being tested or under satanic attack for his stand.

To make common cause with the ungodly while God is judging him could place in the same dangerous spot Jehoshaphat found himself in when he " Joined affinity with Ahab" and thus found out that, after all, he was guilty of helping the ungodly in the day God was judging him! Let's exercise extreme caution.

Michael J Lamb ( Sword of the Lord, October 2, 1987) page 3

What Part of "NO" Don't you Understand.. Evangelist Johnny Campbell!

2005-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Skeleton Sermon. Put your own
"No's" into it.

What
Part Of "NO" Don't You Understand?

By Evangelist Johnny Campbell
brojohnny@johnnythebaptist.org

What's so hard to understand about NO?

The first five years of my life I thought that NO was also "shut up Johnny!"

Let's study this simple word "NO" in John's Gospel.

(1)NO WISE
Jesus is saying that he that cometh unto me I will not turn you away. Now some Baptists (not all) believe that a person can come to CHRIST for years begging God to save them, but He won't save them because they aren't "prayed through." In God's name, prayed through what?
Also, Primitive Baptists not only teach this, but they also teach that you're born either saved or lost.
If you read this, and belong to a church that teaches this trash, read that verse: If you come to Jesus, He will not cast you out (turn you away), but welcome you into the Family of God! Glory, Glory, Glory!!!

You say,

"Brother Johnny, I could kill you!"

Hey Mister False Prohet! Don't you threaten me with Heaven!

Listen my sinner friend. Christ wants to save you more than you want to be saved! Jesus says, "come, and I will save you."

(2)NO MAN

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Oh, sorry Indiana Jones clones, but if God's Holy Ghost Ghost doesn't convince and convict them, you might jump on your bus to headquarters telling of the 5000 you won while picking your nose, but Jesus said that they don't get saved unless the Holy Ghost draws them to him! That is conviction my friend.

Today we are reaping what we have sowed from these super duper, no repentance, no godly sorrow types. And, these bus kids are now our adults. That's why some are getting saved and the others are driving their poor Pastors crazy, because they have not been Born Again.

(3)NO LIFE

John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you

No. because of this bubble gum salvation. They have no life. They are still dead in trespasses and sins.

(4)NO MORE

John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Because of this lie that they have been told(no repentance), they last no time, and walk no more in the church house any more.

I cant say, "walk with Jesus." They never have because you barred them from Heaven.

(5)NO SIN

John 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin
remaineth.

Self explanatory

(6)NO LIGHT

John 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he
stumbleth, because there is no light in him

Self explanatory

(7)NO PART

John 13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

This verse is self explanatory, except for for the "falling from grace crowd."

Peter had more sense than this crowd. Look at verse nine. Peter says, "Lord, not just my tootsies, but wash me all over." Then JESUS says, "Peter, your right. If I don't wash you all
over (soul), you will have no part with me."

(8)NO CLOAK

John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

No more cover up! Jesus has come to shine the light so that you cant hide your sin.

(9)NO FAULT

John 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all

John 19:4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him

It's strange how an experienced interrogator could find no fault, but many of our college professors can find some kind of fault in JESUS! I say you have to be reprobate and blind to say that you can find one flaw in this God man called the Christ.

(10)NO KING

John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

Self explanatory

(11)NO MEAT

John 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

Now those fellas got to eat breakfast with Jesus. You and I will eat supper with him!
Glory to GOD! Since I am from Louisiana, and he won't withhold anything from his child, I believe I will have gumbo, dirty rice,
jambalaya, crawfish, atoufee, boudin, pistoletes, and alligator at the marriage supper!
Jimmy Davis will be singing, "Come Home, It's Supper Time!" We'll be singing, dancing and worshipping the King that taught me how to say
"NO, NO, NO" to the devil and to compromising preachers.

HOLD THE FORT!..(Insert your city here)....... SAM JONES

2005-09-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

Hold the Fort
"My people doth not consider" (Isaiah 1:3)

The charge that God brought against his ancient people was this -

"My people doth not consider" (Isa. 1:3

). The etymological definition of that word is "to look at a thing until you see it." If we look at a landscape a glance will take in the main features - such as the mountain scenery, the stream, and the hamlet. A consideration or careful examination will show the foliage of the mountain trees, the road leading to the mansion, the cattle grazing on the hill slopes, and so on. There is a great difference between glancing at an object and considering it. Now let us consider the situation here.

This service, brethren, is rather an unusual service in the city - Saturday night service - and we wind up the business of this week. And we'll wind up life after awhile. What will we be then? Oh, to be a grand, a pure, a noble man, is the assurance, and the only assurance, that we'll be happy and pure and noble forever. I am very anxious indeed to see us not only right ourselves, but I am so anxious to see the sinners of this town saved. When all the Church members get right - if such a consummation could be brought about - then we have only prepared ourselves to do the work God wants us to do.

I will tell you how I feel about it. I have been feeling a good deal since I have been here. I have pulled, and pulled, and pulled at different times in different places in my life; and here I have pulled and pulled. Sometimes it looked like all the world was a load and I was pulling. And brethren, I have reached the point now where you ought to pull some and you ought to push some. I will tell you what is true, if God Almighty had blessed me with the money that some of you have - and you may not have a great deal - if God Almighty had blessed me with such a home as some of you have, and with so many blessings as He has blessed you, I'd put in the next week for Him as no Christian in this town ever put in a week for God.

We'll never do anything with this city, when the Christian world looks like you can just take nickels and scatter them along, one every ten feet, and tote them right into hell with them. We'll never do anything with such a world - never!

I will tell you another thing: you need not say I am a fool - and all that sort of thing. I've got a wife and I've got children to support, just like you have, and I love my wife and children just as you do; but I tell you one thing; here is one man that is going to do his duty every day to God and the right, and if me and my wife and children starve to death, we'll make out like we died with typhoid fever; we'll not say one word about it in any way, shape or form. But I want to see one man starve that is doing his duty.

And we'll never take this town for Christ, and you down town at your business every hour of the day, and when night comes, pin on the pinions of an old owl, and flap out and come to meeting. We won't do it.

God Almighty sent this very work along here in St. Louis to prepare some of you members of the Church for your coffins, and to prepare many a sinner in this town for eternity. And if an angel were to alight on this stand this moment and say, "Ten people in this town will be in their coffins next Saturday night," ah, me! - without mentioning any names - I'll tell you that every soul in this house would be here every time this bell rang. You are going to die next Saturday night. I don't know whether it is I or somebody else, but there are ten of us, who may be in our coffins next Saturday night.

We have no time to throw away in this work. One third of my time is gone now. I have no time or disposition to come here and camp with you all through the winter - three or four or six months. I expect to be away from here, and before the first day of February I expect to see thousands of souls converted in another city. I expect to; verily I do. I have no time to fool away with you all. If you want me and say so, I am your man, under God; but if you don't I want you to say so. I will take the first train that leaves this town on Monday morning.

You aren't in earnest. You don't mean anything. I can buy out your interest in this meeting for a quarter, and I expect a great many of you haven't made a quarter each day while we were here serving and praying and working the best way we could, and you gadding about town.

I believe it's the first meeting I ever ran in my life when there were more men out at any service than women; and I tell you when it gets so good women in a city are scarce, things are getting mighty bad, they are, sure as you're born.

There isn't any doubt about that. I've seen a few towns where good men were scarce, but I believe you've got less earnest Christian women in this town than any town I have ever known of its size. What do you think about that?

Now, there is no use in quibbling over the matter at all, brethren. If St. Joseph can rush up under a tent four times a day, and turn everything loose - and God has blessed that town as I scarcely know God has ever blessed a town in the United States of America of its size, almost literally redeemed St. Joseph, Mo. - you can. How came that? The people got interested and took stock; don't you see! That was all. Now, how may we obtain just such a blessing? By getting interested and taking stock.

I will tell you how I feel about it. I can afford to fail. Christ could afford to fail in some places, for in some places he didn't do many wonderful works. What paper is it in your city that that article was in today that spoke about burying Sam Jones?

It says: "Jones has come here to be buried. We buried Moody here, and he has never done anything since; and we buried Harrison here, and he has never done anything since." I believe that is about the sense of the article. "And Jones has come to St. Louis to be buried." Yes, I will be the best man that was ever buried in this community. You'll never bury Jones - I'll say that to you. My faith in God, and faith in the right, and faith in the Cross of Christ, will be as strong when I leave this city if not a single soul is blessed, as it shall be if one hundred thousand are blessed. My faith in God Almighty doesn't depend upon what the Christian people in St. Louis will or will not do. I have no notion of going into my grave till I die, and then I will go in as gracefully and as dignified as a man ever did; but I will never be dignified until I do die. That's just the way I feel about it.

Well, now, I don't like to call up the memories of the war, not at all; and if there is any section in all America that the war question brings up sad memories in, it is here and in Missouri. I would not lift the mantle and veil of charity from a single scar that was left by the war. Not that.

But let me tell you a little war incident. I do not care which side you were on. You admire a brave man, to whichever side he belonged. I do. I love a brave man today, whether he wore the blue or the gray. I like a brave man, for me or against me. I despise a coward in blue or gray. When Johnston turned over his army to Hood in Atlanta - Joe Johnston that carried his army on, back and back, retreating before Sherman until be reached Atlanta - there Johnston turned over his army to Hood. Hood was a gallant man and a brave man. He had already lost one of his legs in battle, and when he took charge of Johnston's army he came round back into Tennessee with it, and, you recollect, fought the bloody battle of Franklin, perhaps one of the most bloody battles of the war. When that battle was raging hot and thick, Gen. Hood's tent was on a prominence, and from that prominence Gen. Hood, in walking up and down in front of his tent, could see the battle. He could see lines and he could hear the booming of the cannon and the rattle of the musketry. And as he walked up and down in front of the tent, halting with his artificial leg, every time he turned his eyes downward towards the lines he saw that there was a fort out in a locust grove that was literally hewing down his ranks by the hundred. Every time he walked up and down in front of his tent, limping as he walked and every time he turned his face towards the lines he saw that that fort in the locust grove was literally hewing down his ranks.

After he had watched the fight awhile he called his Adjutant General to him. That officer rode up on his bloody horse, and Gen. Hood said: "Adjutant, go and present my compliments to Gen. Cheatham, and tell him that I ask at his hands that fort in the locust grove." The Adjutant General loped off with all the speed of his horse. In a few minutes he returned and said: "Gen. Hood, Gen. Cheatham is missing. They think he has been killed, He has not been seen in two hours." Gen. Hood bowed his head, and marched up and down in front of his tent, and every time he turned his face to the lines, that fort in the locust grove was literally hewing down his ranks to the ground. And directly he called his Adjutant General again, and lie said: "Adjutant General, go and present my compliments to Gen. Claiborne, and tell him I ask at his hands the fort in the locust grove." The Adjutant General loped off down the lines and in a few moments came back and said: "Gen. Hood, Gen. Claiborne is dead on the battlefield."

Gen. Hood dropped his head, and the tears ran down his cheeks as he marched up and down in front of his tent. He looked through the tears as they glistened in his eyes and saw that the fort in the locust grove was still hewing his ranks to the ground. And directly he called his Adjutant General again, and he said: "Adjutant General, go and present my love" - he is softening down now, no longer compliments - "Adjutant General, go and present my love to Gen. Cockrell and tell him I ask at his hands that fort in the locust grove." The Adjutant General loped off down the line, and rode up to Gen. Cockrell. I believe he is, perhaps, from your city or state - one of the youngest Generals in the Southern army. The Adjutant General rode up to him and said: "Gen. Cockrell, Gen. Hood sends you his love, and says he asks at your hands that fort in the locust grove." Gen. Cockrell straightened himself up in his saddle, and said: "1st Missouri Brigade, attention!" And he dropped his fingers on that fort. They charged upon the fort with intrepid courage and captured it, and Gen. Cockrell called his Adjutant General and said: "Adjutant General, go and present my love to Gen. Hood, and also tell him that I present him the fort in the locust grove."

And I want to tell you Christian people here whether that incident be true or not, it illustrates what I desire to say to you. I am here as the adjutant general of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I say to you Christian people, as I point over this wicked city, that the Lord Jesus Christ presents his love to you Christian people, and He wants at your hands every fort of sin in this community, and in less than thirty days I hope you all with one accord will say, "Lord Jesus, we present our love to you, and we also present the city redeemed by Thy grace."

I want every Christian man that is ready to march out into line, not to fight his fellow man, but to bring his neighbor and friend to God and do what he can for the race. This coming week I will do my best, and I want every Christian in this house, of every denomination, who feels like saying: "God is my helper; I will go into the fight, and pray and work and do my best". I want every such an one to stand up; and I hope you will all stand up immediately and say: "That is my honest conviction. I want to go into the fight. I want to do my best."

Brethren, there cannot be a movement without friction, a battle without an issue, no issue without browsing of lines, and no victory without a fight. The fight is now on. Will you come up to the help of the Lord against the powers that be?

Well, thank God for this Saturday night meeting. God bless this service to the good of every Christian here. Now, we say to you all, we want the battle to begin now; we want the battle to be pushed on now. If you good women will pray as you ought, you will hear of such a meeting as St. Louis never had before. God give us power, and I want to tell you that nothing but the power of God can ever reach this city. Nothing but the power of God. God Almighty does not ask any more odds in St. Louis, if you take hold right, than He does in the smallest town in the state. He is an omnipotent God, and can do all He undertakes. Now we are going to sing "Hold the Fort, for I Am Coming." I want everybody to join in that song, and afterwards we will pronounce the benediction.

ONE MORE NIGHT WITH THE FROGS ---Dr. Hugh F. Pyle

2005-09-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

"And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when
shall I intreat for thee, and forthy servants, and for
thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy
houses, that they may remain in the river only?
And he
said, Tomorrow."

Exodus 8:9,10

The frogs were everywhere!
Frogs in the bedroom, frogs in the kitchen, frogs in the
parlor, frogs in the oven, frogs in the kneadingtroughs!
God had said, "If thou refuse to let them (the
children of Israel) go, behold, I will smite all thy
borders with frogs!" (Exodus 8:2). God keeps
His word! Look at that Egyptian woman opening her oven;
she screams! Out jump frogs! There's a fellow pulling
down the sheets to get into a comfortable bed, and --
frogs are his bedfellows! Another is putting on his
clothes: what's that in his pockets? Frogs! See those
Egyptian boys kicking along the roads to school,
squashing frogs (instead of mud) between their toes!
Frogs in the palace, and frogs in the hut of squalor.
Little frogs, big frogs! The din must have been
deafening! Frogs in the house, frogs in the yard --
thousands of dead frogs heaped up in smelly mountains as
millions more come from the rivers to take their places!
Finally Pharaoh could stand it no longer. He called for
Moses, the servant of God. "Intreat the Lord,
that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my
people; and I will let the people go, that they may do
sacrifice unto the Lord."!

"God was ready to remove the frogs instantly; the decision was up to Pharaoh... Why could he have possibly chosen one more night with the frogs?"

Moses must have been overjoyed. At least
Pharaoh had made up his mind. At last Pharaoh was to be
converted! So Moses said, "Glory over me: when
shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for
thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy
houses, that they may remain in the river only?"
And Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow!" I have
never been able to figure that one out! Frogs in his
food, frogs in his bed, frogs in his clothes, frogs all
over the house -- and God was ready to remove the frogs
instantly; the decision was up to Pharaoh. And he said "Tomorrow!"
"Give me one more night with the frogs!" Why
could he have possibly chosen one more night with those
frogs?

Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow."
But "the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear
his voice, Harden not your hearts!" (Heb.
3:7,8). Think of it: Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow!"
The Holy Ghost saith, "Today!"

We are famous for what we
are going to do TOMORROW!

Preach to the Christian
about full surrender. He knows he should. He admits that
he is bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). He knows a
consecrated, Spirit-filled life is the only honest thing
a Christian can offer to God. So he plans to surrender,
he plans to break with the world, he intends to become a
soul winner - TOMORROW! Always TOMORROW! "Give me
one more night with the frogs, one more night with my
defeated, wasted Christian life!"

Plead with the backslider
to come back to God. He will usually admit, "Well,
Preacher, I surely ought to do that. God knows I've known
nothing but misery and grief since I went back on God.
I'm fed up with this wretched life. I've had sickness,
sorrow, trouble, and defeat since I got out of fellowship
with the Lord. I'm through. I'm coming back to God!"
And you say, "That's wonderful! Let us just kneel in
prayer and settle it right now." But the backslider
says, "Well, not just now. I'll do it
tomorrow!" He wants one more night with the frogs,
one more night with his carnal cravings, one more night
with his compromising and his carousing, one more night
with the flag of loyalty drooping -- one more night with
the frogs!

In New York City a fifteen
year old boy was found living in a sewer pipe down
underneath the streets of New York. He had had a
falling-out with his daddy, felt that he was no longer
wanted at home, and had taken up lodging in a huge old
abandoned sewer. Police found him two weeks later
sleeping on a dirty old mattress, trying to cook on a
one-burner oil stove, keeping company with the rats in a
sewer pipe! He had had two weeks of that! When the police
carried him home, his father said, "Why, son, I
would have forgiven you the very next day if you had only
come home!"

And many a backslider has
had many more than two weeks down in the sewer pipes of
an ungodly world, while the Heavenly Father longs to
forgive him and kiss away his tears! Come on home to God
right now! "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). The
lost sinner, too, begs for one more night with the frogs!
The soul winner says "Why not come to Jesus? He will
forgive your sin, He will solve your problems, He will
lift your burdens, He will save your soul!" And the
sinner often will admit that what you say is true. He
ought to be saved, and he's going to be -- TOMORROW!

Jesus had an experience with three of these "tomorrow" men in Luke,
chapter 9. One fellow said, "Lord, I will follow
thee whethersoever thou goest"! That was a
daring promise, wasn't it? But when Jesus said, "Foxes
have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son
of man hath no where to lay his head," the man
is heard from no more. He had not thought of sacrifice
and privation. So it is "one more night" on my
comfortable "Beautyrest" at home!

He said to another, "Follow
me" (vs. 59). But he said, "Lord,
suffer me first..." (right there was his
trouble -- me first!"). "Lord,
suffer me first to go and bury my father." Now,
there is nothing wrong with burying one's father -- if he
is dead; but the point is Jesus should come ahead of
every other affection. And I have an idea this man's
father was not dead. I have known many people who were
more devoted to their parents of other relatives than
they were to Christ; more concerned about pleasing man
than God! Many use the Lord's Day to take off on an
exodus from church and from God. Back to the old
homestead, back to "lazy around" eating and
gossiping on the Lord's Day while their souls shrivel up!
"Suffer me first!" And you know, I
have seen some of those people have to literally bury
their parents or a little baby or someone else dear
before they would ever surrender to the Lord and get
right! So, Jesus said to this man, "Let the dead
bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God." And this man goes back for "one more
night" with the tombstones and mortuaries of this
world! Jesus can use only those who are willing to put
God first, and He can save only those who truly repent of
their unbelief.

The third would-be
disciple volunteered, "Lord, I will follow thee:
but....." This "but" was his trouble.
Commenting on this verse Walter Hughes says there are so
many "buts" around the average church you would
think you were in a goat pen instead of a sheepfold!
Every pastor has heard them: "I would sing in the
choir, BUT..." "I would come to church
regularly, BUT...." "I would repent and be
saved, BUT..." You hear this from both saint and
sinner. "I will follow thee, BUT..." So this
man said, "I will follow thee, but let me
first...(here we go again, - "me first"). That
is why millions are still slaves to self and sin and
Satan. How foolish to call Jesus "Lord" in one
breath and plead for "me first" in the next! He
said, "let me first go bid them farewell, which
are at home at my house." Jesus knew his family
better than that man did, and knew (evidently) that if
that crowd ever got hold of him they would talk him out
of his decision. So Jesus said unto him, "No
man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back,
is fit for the kingdom of God."!

There is many a sinner
like that man today. "Lord, I'm going to follow You,
but let me have just one more fling, one more night at
the country club, or the card table, or the dance hall,
or the beer tavern, just "one more night with the
frogs!" And the "one more night" stretches
out into terrible, endless night, in "the
blackness of darkness for ever"!

I like what Rebekah said
when she was faced with the decision of immediately
deciding about going with the servant of Abraham to
become the bride of Isaac. (Just like the sinner is faced
with the decision about breaking with the past and going
to Him who is our heavenly Isaac, the Lord Jesus
Christ!). The servant of Abraham had been led to Rebekah.
Rebekah had drawn water for the man and for his camels
also, (one girl who won a husband by hard work) and by
this the faithful servant knew he had found the right
girl. Rebekah and her family had seen some of the jewels
which represented the great wealth of Isaac. They were
sold on it. Rebekah ought to go and become the bride of
Isaac. But that night Rebekah's mother and her big
brother, Laban, got their heads together. The
conversation must have run something like this:
"Look here, now we can't let Rebekah just rush into
this thing. After all, she hasn't even had her picture on
the society page of the Mesopotamia Morning
Messenger!" "That's right, and whoever heard of
a girl of Rebekah's standing getting married without a
hope chest, without even a wedding dress!" So at the
breakfast table they were gunning for the servant with
these words: "Let the damsel abide with us a few
days, at the least ten; after that she shall go."
(Gen. 24:55). (Just like ungodly relatives and friends
are often on hand to try to talk a sinner out of coming
to Christ!).

When the servant of
Abraham refused to be hindered, they thought they could
sweet-talk Rebekah into staying on with them; so they
said, "Rebekah, honey, ' wilt thou go with this
man?' " (Gen. 24:58). And Rebekah simply said, "I
WILL GO"! No ifs, ands, nor buts about it! No
pussyfooting around about it! "I will go"!
I will arise and go to Jesus! "I will go!"
No more nights with the frogs! Thank God for a decision
like that!

I preached this sermon in
the First Baptist Church of a Florida town. Many young
people were saved that week. A number of high school
young people were saved the night I preached on the
frogs. Among them was a bright, personable girl from
another church. She was a leader in the high school set.
After the service that night she was rejoicing in what
Christ had done for her. As she left the church that
night she said to me, with a twinkle in her eye,
"Preacher, there'll be no more nights with the
frogs!" I believe she meant that!

Now, I want to suggest
three reasons why YOU dare not spend even one more night
with the frogs! In the first place,

The Frogs May Not Leave Tomorrow!

They don't always, you
know.

It looked like the rich
young ruler was about to be saved. He seemed so near. But
the cancer of covetousness was eating away at his soul.
He turned and went away from Jesus, "went away
sorrowful," but the next day the sorrow, the
misery, the unhappiness, the emptiness was still there.
The frogs didn't leave!

Jonah bought a ticket to
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3). God
had said, "Go to Nineveh," but Jonah
chose "one more night" on the deep blue sea,
one more night going Jonah's way instead of God's way.
That always means trouble. God sent a mighty tempest. The
old ship was creaking and groaning, reeling and rocking.
It looked like certain destruction -- until they threw
Jonah overboard. God had prepared a great fish to swallow
up Jonah. So Jonah became the first submarine passenger
in history! He took a sub-Mediterranean ride in the
interior of a whale -- and was Jonah ever sick! But he
did not get as sick as the whale did! A backslider is so
nauseating that even the whale could not keep Jonah down.
Jonah might be called the most indigestible person in the
Bible! He finally began to cry unto the Lord. The Lord
beached the whale and the whale beached Jonah! God pushed
the button, the whale did the rest -- and UP came Jonah!
He hit dry ground running -- for Nineveh! where God told
him to go in the first place! But he surely could have
saved himself a lot of grief if he had just minded God to
begin with! The frogs didn't leave, and a lot of other
troubles came!

"We preached to those girls and urged them to become Christians ... they just grinned and shook their heads. They had tasted sin and the old flesh liked it. So, they as much as said, 'No thanks! Give us one more night with the rats and the bedbugs, one more night in a filthy jail, one more night with the frogs!'"

I will never forget my first trip to the
Pensacola jail -- not as an inmate, just as a visitor!
The ladies in our missionary society went down on Mondays
to talk to the women prisoners in the stockade, and this
morning I went along with them to speak to the women in
jail. When they said we were going in to the women's cell
block I expected to find crummy hags, dirty old
derelicts, who were wasting away after years of
prostitution and vice. I was amazed to find a cell full
of attractive teenage girls! The youngest was fourteen.
The average age was about seventeen. The "old"
women in there were probably in their twenties. Most of
them had been picked up on lewd charges around dance
halls over the weekend. One beautiful fifteen year old
had been found in the middle of the night with about ten
sailors. (When I asked that one about how she got into
such a life, she said, "Well, Preacher, I like to
dance.") Well, there they were -- the dirty, crummy
old jail, the filthy mattresses, the bedbugs, the rats
(they said) running around under their feet at night, the
open community toilet with no door in front of it (the
stench was terrible!) And yet, when we preached to those
girls and urged them to become Christians, when we told
them what Jesus could do for them, how He could not only
help them out of jail but get started right in life and
know real happiness and forgiveness, they just grinned
and shook their heads. They had tasted sin and the old
flesh liked it. So, they as much as said, "No
thanks! Give us one more night with the rats and the
bedbugs, one more night in a filthy jail, one more night
with the frogs!" But the frogs did not leave
tomorrow. The girls were still in jail, still in their
sins, still miserable, still in bondage!

Charles E. Fuller was
preaching on the "Old Fashioned Revival Hour".
A Christian woman who had been unable to get her
sinner-husband to church had the program turned so high
that he had to hear it no matter where he was in the
house. He became so enraged at the Gospel that he finally
picked up a kitchen chair and dashed it over the radio,
breaking it to pieces. He silenced the voice of Brother
Fuller temporarily, but he could not silence the voice of
God in his soul! Stopping the sermon didn't stop the
misery in his heart -- the frogs were still there! He
couldn't shake off conviction and he finally got saved.
Then the poor fellow had to buy another radio!

So many sinners say ,
"Just as soon as I get straightened out, I'll become
a Christian." Or "You can count on it,
Preacher; we're going to start going to church just as
soon as we get all straightened out." And, you know,
that is just when some of these sinners do come to
church...when they are all straightened out, just as
straight and stiff as a board. They are put in a box over
six feet long, all straightened out, and they ROLL them
into the church, right up to the altar at last, with
flowers all banked up around them! They are straightened
out, but it is too late to do anything about keeping them
out of Hell! If you wait until things are all
straightened out and the frogs all gone first, you will
NEVER come to Christ! Surrender to Him. Let Him do the
straightening, or you will be more crooked than ever! The
frogs may not leave tomorrow. Again, you dare not spend
one more night with the frogs because:

Something Worse May Come In the Place of the Frogs!

It was true in the case of
Pharaoh. After the frogs came lice, flies, locusts,
boils, fire, darkness -- and finally, the death of the
firstborn in every Egyptian home! Stark tragedy. Oh, the
miseries of the sinner! Pride keeps many a man from
surrendering to Christ, in spite of the frogs that plague
him. But one day "the lofty looks of man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed
down..." (Isaiah 2:11) The judgment of God must
fall upon sin. Something worse than the frogs will come!

With many a sinner it is
covetousness -- the love of money, and things! The Bible
still thunders "The love of money is the root of
all evil." (1 Tim. 6;10). For money a great
many have "pierced themselves through with many
sorrows." Today money-mad people, in order to
accumulate possessions, will neglect home and health and
their own children and morals and even God to get more
money. They tolerate the frogs now, but one day something
worse will come in the place of the frogs!

At a lovely farm we were
entertained with a meal before an evening revival
service. There was a picture of a pretty little
curly-haired baby boy on the living room table. But no
baby to be seen. No patter of little feet in the house.
The parents seemed to be devout Christians, but there was
an air of sadness. The house was nice, the barn imposing,
nearly new. I learned later from the pastor that those
people had been getting along so well, making money,
prospering on the farm, and almost idolizing that
curly-headed child, that they just did not go to church
any more. They had become too busy, too well off, too
self-satisfied. Then sickness came, but still rebellion.
Then tragedy came. The barn burned while the father was
bedfast from an operation, and their little child had
perished in the flames -- they did not know he was in the
barn. Finally, the parents, brokenhearted, and greatly
humbled, had come to God, yielded their lives, joined the
church, and were serving Christ -- but what a fearful
price to pay! They had claimed to have converted once.
Maybe they had been. But God says, "Thine own
wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall
reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil
thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy
God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord of
hosts"! (Jer. 2:19). Oh, I tell you, something
worse may come in the place of the frogs!

"The drinker always runs head on into the judgment of God ... Something worse comes! Fool with drink and you will find out!"

With Benhadad it was drink! He was drinking
himself drunk in the pavilions, the Scripture tells us.
Sinners just will not believe God when He tells us, "Wine
is a mocker, strong drink is raging..." (Prov.
20:1). But the drinker always runs head on into the
judgment of God. The Syrian army suffered defeat and
later Benhadad himself was brought to crushing judgment.
Something worse comes! Fool with drink and you will find
out!

I heard Bill Rice tell
about the debutante who had a "coming out"
party in Chicago. In the middle of the night she and her
drunken companions, wild for adventure, ended up at the
zoo to play with the animals at 3 a.m. They began to
tease the bears. This "deb" was waving her arm
through the bars at a big old grizzly. The bear suddenly
clamped down on her arm and hugged her to the bars as he
began to chew the flesh from her hand and arm! By the
time her drunken friends could get help and an ambulance
the bear had torn the flesh from her arm clear up to her
shoulder. Her arm was amputated at the shoulder. Through
life she will carry an empty sleeve as a grim reminder
that something worse may come in in place of the frogs!

The third and last reason
why you are dare not spend one more night with the frogs
is:

Tomorrow May Never Come!

God says, "Boast
not thyself of tomorrow." (Prov. 27:1)

The Bible says, "How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"
(Heb. 2:3). America has become known as the land of
sudden death! Some 831 souls were hurled into eternity
over this past Christmas holiday alone in sudden,
untimely deaths! Of that number, 621 of them were highway
tragedies. I was surprised to read in the Atlanta paper
recently that between 400 and 500 Americans are blasted
into eternity by lightning bolts every year. When God
calls your number, you are going to go! Tomorrow, for
you, may never come! The safe thing is to repent and turn
to Jesus Christ right now! He died to save you. You do
not have to overcome God's reluctance to save you; you
merely take hold of His highest willingness to save you!
He is not willing that any should perish. He takes no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. But God's patience
wears out! He says, "My spirit shall not always
strive with man!" (Gen. 6:3). He will save you
if you come to Him in simple faith right now! He
promises, "...him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out" (John 6:37). God has done HIS
part. He sent His Son. The blood has been shed. The price
has been paid. The next move is your move! Trust Him
today. "He that believeth (trusteth) on the Son
hath everlasting life."! (John 3:36).

"America has become known as the land of sudden death!"

In a Tennessee city a lady heard me preach.
She had told the pastor and others that she ought to come
forward in the revival. She had never made a public
profession of faith. She sat in the service. She heard
the Gospel. She raised her hand for prayer. But she did
not come forward. The next day at noon the pastor was
called from the dinner table, an emergency. That woman
had been rushed to the hospital late that morning and had
died just before noon! Tomorrow may never come!

In Chattanooga a sixteen
year old boy was changing a tire. It blew up in his face.
Two days later they held his funeral. In Birmingham a
lady walked out onto her lawn and suddenly the TV aerial
fell from her roof and struck her dead in her own front
yard. In Pittsburgh the other day a trailer-truck
jackknifed and threw a load of steel rods through a
private dwelling, killing two women instantly. A pastor
here in Jacksonville (where I am now in a revival) just
yesterday showed me the seared, scorched spot where an
airliner fell short of the runway last December, hurling
seventeen souls into eternity! The land of sudden death.

While I was a pastor in a
Florida city I talked to a lost man about Christ. His
wife was a new convert, greatly burdened for her
sinner-husband. He drank and caroused and lived a wild,
rough life. I went to see him. He would not accept Christ
then, but he did come to church the next Sunday. My good
ushers seated him right down near the front. It was not
unusually warm and he did not wear a coat; yet he
perspired until his shirt was matted to his body.
Conviction was written on his face. He raised his hand
for prayer at the end of the sermon. He knew he ought to
come to Christ. Others came. He held on to the seat in
misery but he did not come. At the door as he left the
church I urged him to stay with me then and there and get
the matter of his salvation settled. I reminded him that
he knew now that Christ had died for his sins and would
save him then if he would call on the Lord in faith. All
he would do was to promise to come back to church again.
He was going to be saved later on. The Devil can usually
get a sinner to promise anything when he is running from
God.

He did not come that night
or the next Sunday. I went to see him but missed him. I
tried again but he was dodging me. They said he was
drinking and "living it up" more than ever. And
then it happened: One morning he was driving his car full
of officers down to an air base forty miles away. That
was part of his work. He was driving fast. He swerved to
dodge a wild pig. The right front wheel struck a bridge
abutment and the car began to roll end over end. The
steering wheel almost went through him -- he was
instantly killed. He had said TOMORROW -- but
"tomorrow" never came!

The Blessed Book ....... Lester Roloff

2005-09-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

The Blessed Book

By Lester Roloff

What is the Blessed Book? It is the Book that has all the answers. It is the Book that is hated and despised by America more than it ever has been before. It is so hated that it has been kicked out of the schoolroom. It is so hated that it has been neglected in the church house. It is so despised it has been forgotten in the home.

People read newspapers far more than they read the Word of God and then we wonder way America is in the mess she's in today. This is the Book that made America great, but since it's been kicked out, we've seen America go under and down.

The Bible is a DIVINE REVELATION. You can't get it any other way except that God give it to you. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God

"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7)

It is a SALVATION book.

"These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20:31)

It's the only way for man to be saved. If you want people to be saved preach the Book.

Preach salvation by grace. Preach that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

"All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned everyone to his own way:
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)

"There is none righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:12)

We are wicked and ungodly and ready for hell and there is only one thing keeping us out Å that is one heartbeat and just one breath, and that's because of the mercy of God, otherwise, we'd be lost forever.

Jesus said,

"Nicodemus, you are pretty religious, but you must be born again."

He said, "How?" Jesus said, "The `how' is up to me."

"As Moses lifteth up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man
be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

"For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world: but that the
world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already."

Why?

". . . because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:14-18,
36.

You are not going to be lost when you get to hell. If you are without Christ, you are lost right now. Your trial is already over. You've already been sentenced. You're just waiting for execution morning to roll around. Oh, how horrible it is for people to be lost, to be lost in sin and without Christ.

It's a REGENERATION book.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (I Peter 1:23)

This Book is a HEALING Book.

The Bible says,

"He sent his Word and healed them." (Psalm 107:20)

What word did He send? As far as I'm concerned, He sent this Word.

Preachers, we'd better quit this business of turning all our sick folks over to the doctors and hospitals and drugstores. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you'd better find out. You're going to give an account to God for letting your people die without praying for them and preaching the Book to them.

You ask, "Do you believe in divine healing?" I didn't know there was any other kind. "Do you believe in divine healers?" NO. I believe in a divine healer, and that's Jesus. Do you know what medicine He gives? The Word of God. What do you think He means when He says,

"The just shall live by faith?"

Reckon why He put that in the Book four times? God is not going to bless anybody who doesn't believe this Book.

Remember when the centurion came to Jesus and said,

"Lord my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And
Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him." (Matthew 8:6-7)

"No, you don't have to come. Put the Word to him." Did you get that? He said, ". . . speak the word only." (Matthew 8:8) He doesn't need anything but the Word. Jesus said, "You can just go back home. There's no need for me to come." That was faith! Where did he get that faith? From the Word of God.

Everything Jesus ever did, He did with the Word of God. Folks, we've got to have a revival of believing the Word of God.

This is my LIFELINE. I can't live without it. Physically, I could not. Mentally, I could never stay together. I could never have a clear mind, and I know I couldn't have a pure mind apart from the Word of God.

This is not only a healing book, this is a CLEANSING book. He said,

"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3)

You may have on a clean suit, a clean dress, a new hair do or a new wig or something else, but without Jesus Christ and His Word, you are dirty.

You have a dirty heart, you have a dirty mind and you are not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed can be. There is only one cleansing and it's the Word of God. Oh, if I could just get you to see that this is all you need.

This book will bring a RIGHT SPIRIT if you will believe it. This is a book of STRENGTH giving. Do you need strength? This is a book of QUICKENING. It's inexhaustible, indestructible, indescribable, unfathomable.

There is no way in the world for a man to ever plumb the depths of the truth in this Book. The longer I read it, the more I study it, the sweeter and the richer and the deeper and the more wonderful it becomes.

In fact, the last twenty years, during which time we've seen our faith strengthened and enlarged, have been the most marvelous years of my life. A little before that is when I started reading the Bible through on my knees once a year, memorizing many of its passages.

That's when I decided, sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I was going to live by the Word of God. I didn't realize all of what it involved when I started down that road, but it's been rewarding and it's been sweet and wonderful.

The only way to build a church, if you have a Bible church, is to preach out of the Bible, teach out of the Bible, read out of the Bible.

I believe that we just ought to stay with the Book. I really mean that. I got so deceived and misled for so many years, in fact, I didn't even believe in the coming of the Lord. I thought that we were going to bring the Kingdom in.

That's what they told me and I didn't have any better sense than to believe it. I found out that the Kingdom was coming, but it wasn't God's Kingdom. But I finally started reading the Bible and dared to believe it. I finally realized that what they told me don't amount to much if it's contrary to this Book, so I just dared to believe it and God began to open my eyes.

Now, do you believe this old Book? Are you willing to read it? Are you willing to have a family altar? Are you willing to have a private time of devotional every day?

You boys and girls, and you men and women, are you willing to memorize it? The Bible says

"Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." (Psalm
119:11)

That I might not sin against God, that I might not grieve the Holy Spirit. That I may not be disobedient to God, that I may not live an immoral life, that I might not steal and cheat and disobey God.

Wouldn't that be enough reward, just to know that I'm living a victorious overcoming life and I have victory in Jesus and it's all through the Word of God?

I wonder if you realize the importance of this message in your soul? Preachers, have you loved the Word of God more than you've loved your necessary food? Do you realize that your ministry is to be a ministry of one Book?

Our Father, we pray in Jesus' name that the Word of God may find free course and run in every heart and be sharper than a two- edged sword and cleanse and purify, convict and save and convert and bring us to repentance concerning our relationship with the Word of God. Lord, knowing that You set your Word above Your Name and knowing Your Name is the most precious name on earth, I pray, in Jesus' name, right now that you will give us a Bible revival, and let it start in every heart right now. Amen.

PAY DAY SOME DAY >>> R.G LEE

2005-09-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

Arise, go down
to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria:
behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he
is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto
him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed,
and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto
him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where
dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy
blood, even thine . . And of Jezebel also spake the
Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall
of Jezreel (I Kings 21:18,19,23).

I introduce to you
Naboth. Naboth was a devout Israelite who lived
in the town of Jezreel. Naboth was a good man. He
abhorred that which is evil. He clave to that which is
good. He would not dilute the stringency of his personal
piety for any profit in money. He would not change his
heavenly principles for loose expediencies. And this good
man who loved God, his family and his nation, had a
little vineyard which was close by the summer palace of
Ahab, the king -- a palace unique in its splendor as the
first palace inlaid with ivory. This little vineyard had
come to Naboth as a cherished inheritance from his
forefathers -- and all of it was dear to his heart.

I introduce to you
Ahab, the vile human toad who squatted upon the
throne of his nation -- the worst of Israel's kings. King
Ahab had command of a nation's wealth and a nation's
army, but he had no command of his lusts and appetites.
Ahab wore rich robes, but he had a sinning and wicked and
troubled heart beneath them. He ate the finest food the
world could supply -- and this food was served to him in
dishes splendid by servants obedient to his every beck
and nod -- but he had a starved soul. He lived in palaces
sumptuous within and without, yet he tormented himself
for one bit of land more. Ahab was a king with a throne
and a crown and a scepter, yet he lived nearly all of his
life under the thumb of a wicked woman -- a tool in her
hands. Ahab pilloried himself in the contempt of all
God-fearing men as a mean and selfish rascal who was the
curse of his country. The Bible introduces him to us in
words more appropriate than these when it says:

But there was none like
unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in
the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
And he did very abominably in following idols, according
to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out
before the children of Israel . . . And Ahab made a
grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of
Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were
before him (I Kings 21:25,26; 16:33).

I introduce to you
Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre (I
Kings 16:31), and wife of Ahab, the King of Israel -- a
king's daughter and a king's wife, the evil genius at
once of her dynasty and of her country. Infinitely more
daring and reckless was she in her wickedness than was
her wicked husband. Masterful, indomitable, implacable, a
devout worshiper of Baal, she hated anyone and everyone
who spoke against or refused to worship her pagan god. As
blunt in her wickedness and as brazen in her lewdness was
she as Cleopatra, fair sorceress of the Nile. She had all
the subtle and successful scheming of Lady Macbeth, all
the adulterous desire and treachery of Potiphar's wife
(Gen. 39:7-20), all the boldness of Mary Queen of Scots,
all the cruelty and whimsical imperiousness of Katherine
of Russia, all the devilish infamy of a Madame Pompadour,
and, doubtless, all the fascination of personality of a
Josephine of France. Most of that which is bad in all
evil women found expression through this painted viper of
Israel. She had that rich endowment of nature which a
good woman ought always to dedicate to the service of her
day and generation. But, alas! This idolatrous daughter
of an idolatrous king of an idolatrous people engaging
with her maidens in worship unto Ashtoreth -- the
personification of the most forbidding obscenity,
uncleanness, and sensuality -- became the evil genius who
wrought wreck, brought blight and devised death. She was
the beautiful and malicious adder coiled upon the throne
of the nation.

I introduce to you
Elijah, the Tishbite, prophet of God at a time
when by tens of thousands the people had forsaken God's
covenants, thrown down God's altars, slain God's prophets
with the sword (I Kings 19:10). The prophet, knowing much
of the glorious past of the now apostate nation, must
have been filled with horror when he learned of the rank
heathenism, fierce cruelties and reeking licentiousness
of Ahab's idolatrous capital. Holy anger burned within
him like an unquenchable Vesuvius. He wore the roughest
kind of clothes, but he had underneath these clothes a
righteous and courageous heart. He ate bird's food and
widow's fare, but he was a great physical and spiritual
athlete. He was God's tall cedar that wrestled with the
paganistic cyclones of his day without bending or
breaking. He was God's granite wall that stood up and out
against the rising tides of the apostasy of his day.
Though much alone, he was sometimes attended by the
invisible hosts of God. He grieved only when God's cause
seemed tottering. He passed from earth without dying --
into celestial glory. Every where courage is admired and
manhood honored and service appreciated, he is honored as
one of earth's greatest heroes and one of heaven's
greatest saints. He was a seer who saw clearly. He was a
great heart who felt deeply. He was a hero who dared
valiantly.

And now with the
introduction of these four characters -- Naboth, the
devout Jezreelite -- Ahab, the vile human toad who
squatted befoulingly on the throne of the nation --
Jezebel, the beautiful adder beside the toad -- and
Elijah, the prophet of the living God, I bring you the
tragedy of "Payday Someday."

And the first scene in the
tragedy of "Payday Someday" is:

THE REAL ESTATE REQUEST

"Give me thy
vineyard."

And it came to pass
after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a
vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of
Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth,
saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for
a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house:
and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than
it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the
worth of it in money (I Kings 21:1,2).

Thus far Ahab was quite
within his rights. No intention had he of cheating Naboth
out of his vineyard or of killing him to get it. Honestly
did he offer to give him its worth in money. Honestly did
he offer him a better vineyard for it. Perfectly fair and
square was Ahab in this request and, under Circumstances
ordinary, one would have expected Naboth to put away any
mere sentimental attachment which he had for his
ancestral inheritance in order that he might please the
king of his nation -- especially when the king's aim was
not to defraud or rob him. Ahab had not, however, counted
upon the reluctance of all Jews to part with their
inheritance of land. By peculiar tenure every Israelite
held his land, and to all land-holding transactions there
was another party, even God, "who made the heavens
and the earth." Throughout Judah and Israel, Jehovah
was the real owner of the soil; and every tribe received
its territory and every family its inheritance by lot
from Him, with the added condition that the land should
not be sold forever.

The land shall not be
sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are
strangers and sojourners with Me ... So shall not the
inheritance of the children of Israel remove from
tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of
Israel shall keep him-self to the inheritance of the
tribe of his fathers ... but every one of the tribes
of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his
own inheritance (Lev. 25:23; Num. 36:7,9).

Thus we see that the
permanent sale of the paternal inheritance was forbidden
by law. Ahab forgot -- if he had ever really known it --
that for Naboth to sell for money or to swap for a better
vineyard his little vineyard would seem to that good man
like a denial of his allegiance to the true religion when
jubilee restoration was neglected in such idolatrous
times.

So, though he was Ahab's
nearest neighbor, Naboth, with religious scruples blended
with the pride of ancestry, stood firmly on his rights --
and, with an expression of horror on his face and with
tones of terror in his words, refused to sell or swap his
vineyard to the king. Feeling that he must prefer the
duty he owed to God to any danger that might arise from
man, he made firm refusal. With much fear of God and
little fear of man, he said: "The Lord forbid it me,
that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto
thee" (I Kings 21:3).

True to the religious
teachings of his father with loyalty to the covenant God
of Israel, he believed that he held the land in fee
simple from God. His father and grandfather and doubtless
grandfather's father, had owned the land before him. All
the memories of childhood were tangled in its grapevines.
His father's hands, folded now in the dust of death, had
used the pruning blade among the branches, and because of
this every branch and vine was dear. His mother's hands,
now doubtless wrapped in a dust- stained shroud, had
gathered purple clusters from those bunch-laden boughs,
and for this reason he loved every spot in his vineyard
and every branch on his vines. The ties of sentiment, of
religion and of family pride bound and endeared him to
the place. So his refusal to sell was quick, firm, final
and courteous. Then, too, doubtless working or resting or
strolling as he often did in his vineyard hard by the
king's castle, Naboth had had glimpses of strange and
alien sights in the palace. He had seen with his own eyes
what orgies idolatry led to when the queen was at home in
her palace in Jezreel; and Naboth, deeply pious, felt
smirched and hurt at the very request. He felt that his
little plot of ground, so rich in prayer and fellowship,
so sanctified with sweet and holy memories, would be
tainted and befouled and cursed forever if it came into
the hands of Jezebel. So with "the courage of a bird
that dares the wild sea," he took his stand against
the king's proposal.

And that brings us to the
second scene in this tragedy. It is:

THE POUTING POTENTATE

"He came into
his house heavy and displeased."

Naboth's quick, firm,
courteous, final refusal took all the spokes from the
wheels of Ahab's desires and plans. Naboth's refusal was
a barrier that turned aside the stream of Ahab's desire
and changed it into a foiled and foaming whirlpool of
sullen sulks.

And Ahab came into his
house heavy and displeased because of the word which
Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said,
I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And
he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face,
and would eat no bread (I Kings 21:4).

What a ridiculous picture'
A king acting like a spoiled and sullen child -- impotent
in disappointment and ugly in petty rage! A king, whose
victories over the Syrians have rung through many lands
-- a conqueror, a slave to himself -- whining like a sick
hound! A king, rejecting all converse with others,
pouting like a spoiled and petulant child who has been
denied one trinket in the midst of one thousand
play-things! A king, in a chamber "cieled with
cedar, and painted with vermilion" (Jer. 22:14),
prostituting genius to theatrical trumpery.

Ahab went into his ivory
house, while the sun was shining and the matters of the
daytime were all astir, and went to bed and "turned
his face to the wall" - his lips swollen with his
mulish moping, his eyes burning with cheap anger-fire,
his wicked heart stubborn in perverse rebellion against
the commandment of God. Servants brought him his meal,
plenteously prepared on platters beautiful, but he
"would eat no bread." Doubtless, musicians came
to play skillfully on stringed instruments, but he drove
them all away with imperious gestures and impatient
growlings. He turned from his victuals as one turns from
garbage and refuse. The conqueror of the Syrians is a low
slave to dirt-cheap trivialities. His spirit, now
devilishly sullen, is in bondage.

What an ancient picture we
have of great powers dedicated to mean, ugly, petty
things. Think of it! In the middle of the day, the
commander-in-chief of an army seized by Sergeant
Sensitive. General Ahab made prisoner by Private Pouts!
The leader of an army laid low by Corporal Mopishness! A
monarch moaning and blubbering and growlingly refusing to
eat because a man, a good man, because of the
commandments of God and because of religious principles,
would not sell or swap a little vineyard which was his by
inheritance from his forefathers. Ahab had lost nothing
-- had gained nothing. No one had injured him. No one had
made attempt on his life. Yet he, a king with a great
army and a fat treasury, was acting like a blubbering
baby. Cannon ability was expressing itself in popgun
achievement. A massive giant sprawling on the bed like a
dwarf punily peevish! A whale wallowing and spouting
angrily about because he is denied minnow food! A bear
growling sulkily because he cannot lick a spoon in which
is a bit of honey! An eagle shrieking and beating his
wings in the dust of his own displeasure like a
quarreling sparrow fussily fighting with other sparrows
for the crumbs in the dust of a village street! A lion
sulkily roaring because he was not granted the cheese in
a mouse trap! A battleship cruising for a beetle!

"People there are, not a few, who have pipe organ abilities and make no more music for the causes of Christ than a wheezy saxophone in an idiot's hands."

What an ancient picture of great powers and
talents prostituted to base and purposeless ends and
withheld from the service of God! What an ancient
spectacle! And how modern and up-to-date, in this
respect, was Ahab, king of Israel. What a likeness to him
in conduct today are many talented men and women. I know
men and women -- you know men and women -- with diamond
and ruby abilities who are worth no more to God through
the churches than a punctured Japanese nickel in a
Chinese bazaar! So many there are who, like Ahab,
withhold their talents from God -- using them in the
service of the devil. People there are, not a few, who
have pipe organ abilities and make no more music for the
causes of Christ than a wheezy saxophone in an idiot's
hands. People there are, many of them, who have
incandescent light powers who make no more light for God
than a smoky barn lantern, with smoke-blackened globe, on
a stormy night. People there are -- I know them and you
know them -- with locomotive powers doing pushcart work
for God. People there are -- and how sad 'tis true -- who
have steam-shovel abilities who are doing teaspoon work
for God. Yes! Now look at this overfed bull bellowing for
a little spot of grass outside his own vast pasture lands
-- and, if you are withholding talents and powers from
the service of God, receive the rebuke of the tragic and
ludicrous picture.

And now, consider the
third scene in this tragedy of "Payday
Someday." It is:

THE WICKED WIFE

"And Jezebel
his wife."

When Ahab would "eat
no bread," the servants went and told Jezebel. What
she said to them, we do not know. Something of what she
said to Ahab we do know. Puzzled and provoked at the news
that her husband would not eat -- that he had gone to bed
when it was not bedtime -- Jezebel went to investigate.
She found him in bed with his face turned to the wall,
his lips swollen with mulish moping, his eyes burning
with cheap anger-fire, his heart stubborn in wicked
rebellion. He was groaningly mournful and peevishly
petulant -- having, up to the moment when she stood by
his bedside, refused to eat or cheer up in the least.

Looking at him then, she
doubtless, as is the custom with women until this day,
put her hand on his forehead to see if he had fever. He
had fever-without doubt! He was set on fire of hell, even
as is a wicked tongue (Jas. 3:6). Then, in a voice of
"Sweet" solicitation, she sought the reason of
his anger. She asked, to put it in the semi-slang
language of our day: "What's the matter with you,
Big Boy?" But, in the words of the Bible: "Why
is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?" (I
Kings 21:5). Then, with his mouth full of grouches, with
his heart stubborn in rebellion against the commandment
of God, he told her -- his every word full of mopish
petulance:

Because I spake unto
Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy
vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I
will give thee another vineyard for it: and he
answered, I will not give thee my vineyard (I Kings
21:6).

Every word he said stung
like a whip upon a naked back this wickedly unscrupulous
woman who had never had any regard for the welfare of
anyone who did not worship her god, Baal -- who never had
any conscientious regard for the rights of others, or for
others who did not yield to her whimsical imperiousness.

Hear her derisive laugh as
it rings Out in the palace like the shrill cackle of a
wild fowl that has returned to its nest and has found a
serpent therein! With her tongue, sharp as a razor, she
prods Ahab as an ox driver prods with sharp goad the ox
which does not want to press his neck into the yoke, or
as one whips with a rawhide a stubborn mule. With profuse
and harsh laughter this old gay and gaudy guinea of Satan
derided this king of hers for a cowardly buffoon and
sordid Jester What hornet like sting in her sarcasm! What
wolf mouth fierceness in her every reproach! What tiger
fang cruelty in her expressed displeasure! What fury in
the shrieking of her rebuke! What bitterness in the
teasing taunts she hurled at him for his scrupulous
timidity! Her bosom with anger was heaving! Her eyes were
flashing with rage under the surge of hot anger that
swept over her.

"Are you not the king
of this country?" she chides bitingly, her tongue
sharp like a butcher's blade. "Can you not command
and have it done?" she scolds as a common village
hag who has more noise than wisdom in her words "Can
you not seize and keep?" she cries with reproach.
"I thought you told me you were king in these parts!
And here you are crying like a baby and will not eat
anything because you do not have courage to take a bit of
land. You! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You, the king of Israel, allow
yourself to be disobeyed and defied by a common
clodhopper from the country. You are more courteous and
considerate of him than you are of your queen! Shame on
you! But you leave it to me! I will get the vineyard for
you, and all that I require is that you ask no questions.
leave it to me, Ahab!"

And Jezebel his wife
said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of
Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be
merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite (I Kings 21:7).

Ahab knew Jezebel well
enough to know that she would do her best, or her worst,
to keep her wicked promise. So, as a turtle that has been
sluggish in the cold winter's mud begins to move when the
spring sunshine warms the mud, Ahab crawled out of the
slime of his sulks -- somewhat as a snake arouses and
uncoils from winter sleep. Then Jezebel doubtless tickled
him under the chin with her bejewelled fingers or kissed
him peckingly on the cheek with her lips screwed in a
tight knot, and said: "There now! Smile! And eat
something. I will get thee the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite!"

Now, let us ask, who can
so inspire a man to noble purposes as a noble woman? And
who can so thoroughly degrade a man as a wife of unworthy
tendencies? Back of the statement, "And Ahab the son
of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that
were before him" (I Kings 16:30), and back of what
Elijah spoke, "Thou hast sold thyself to work evil
in the sight of the Lord" (I Kings 21:20), is the
statement explaining both the other statements:
"Whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." She was the
polluted reservoir from which the streams of his own
iniquity found mighty increase. She was the poisonous
pocket from which his cruel fangs fed. She was the
sulphurous pit wherein the fires of his own iniquity
found fuel for intenser burning. She was the Devil's
grindstone which furnished sharpening for his weapons of
wickedness.

"The spiritual life of a nation, city, town, school, church, or home never rises any higher than the spiritual life of women."

Search the pages of the Bible all you will;
study history all you please. And you will find one truth
that stands out above some other truths. What is that
truth? The truth that the spiritual life of a nation,
city, town, school, church, or home never rises any
higher than the spiritual life of women. When women sag
morally and spiritually, men sag morally and spiritually.
When women slump morally and spiritually, men slip
morally and spiritually. When women take the downward
road men travel with them. When women are lame morally
and spiritually, men limp morally and spiritually. The
degeneracy of womanhood helps the decay of manhood.

Yes -- we ask again -- who
can so degrade a man as a woman of wicked tendencies and
purposes? Is not a woman without spiritual religion and
love of God in her heart like a rainbow without color --
like a strong poisoned well from which the thirsty drink
-- like a heated stove whose heat is infection -- like
kissing lips spread with deadly poison?

What a tragedy when any
woman thinks more of paint than purity, of vulgarity than
virtue, of pearls than principles of adornment with
righteous adoration, of hose and hats than holiness, of
dress than duty, of mirrors than manners! What a tragedy
when any woman sacrifices decency on the altar of
degradation -- visualizing the slimy, the tawdry, the
tinseled!

We ask -- just here --
some questions. Who dominated the papacy in its most
shameful days? Lucretia Borgia -- a woman. Who really
ordered the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's day?
Catherine de Medici -- a woman. Who breathed fury through
Robespierre in those dark and bloody days in France when
the guillotine was chopping off the heads of the royalty?
A woman -- determined, devilish, dominant! Who caused
Samson to have his eyes punched out and to be a prisoner
of the Philistines, after he had been a judge in Israel
for twenty years? Delilah -- a woman! Who caused David to
stake his crown for a caress? Bathsheba -- a woman. Who
danced Herod into hell? Herodias -- a woman! Who was like
a heavy chain around the neck of Governor Felix for life
or death, for time and eternity? Drusilla -- a woman!
Who, by lying and diabolical stratagem, sent the spotless
Joseph to jail because he refused her dirty, improper
proposal? Potiphar's wife. Who suggested to Haman that he
build a high gallows on which to hang Mordecai, the Jew?
Zeresh -- a woman -- his wife! Who told Job in the midst
of his calamities, financial and physical, to curse God
and die? A woman -- his wife. Who ruined the career of
Charles Stewart Parnell and delayed Home Rule for Ireland
in the good days of good Queen Victoria? Kitty O'Shea --
a woman. Who caused Anthony to throw away the world at
the battle of Actium and follow the enchantress of the
Nile back to Egypt? The enchantress herself, Cleopatra --
a woman -- the lovely serpent coiled on the throne of the
Ptolemies.

So also it was a woman, a
passionate and ambitious idolatress, even Jezebel, who
mastered Ahab. Take the stirring crimes of any age, and
at the bottom, more or less consciously concerned, the
world almost invariably finds a woman. Only God almighty
knows the full story of the foul plots hatched by women.

But we know enough to say
that some of the foulest plots that have been hatched out
of Satan's incubator were hatched out of eggs placed
therein by women's hands.

But let me say,
incidentally, if women have mastered men for evil, they
have also mastered them for good -- and we gladly make
declaration that some of the fairest and most fragrant
flowers that grow in the garden of God and some of the
sweetest and most luscious fruit that ripens in God's
spiritual orchards are there because of woman's faith,
woman's love, woman's prayer, woman's virtue, woman's
tears, woman's devotion to Christ.

But as for Ahab, it was
Jezebel who stirred him up to more and mightier
wickedness than his own wicked mind could conceive or his
own wicked hand could execute.

Let us come to the next
terrible scene in this tragedy of sin. The next scene is:

A MESSAGE MEANING MURDER

"She wrote
letters."

Jezebel wrote letters to
the elders of Jezreel. And in these letters she made
definite and subtle declaration that some terrible sin
had been committed in their city, for which it was
needful that a fast should be proclaimed in order to
avert the wrath of Heaven.

So she wrote letters in
Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the
letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in
his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the
letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high
among the people: and set two men, sons of Belial, before
him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst
blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him Out, and
stone him, that he may die (I Kings 21:8-10).

This letter, with cynical
disregard of decency, was a hideous mockery in the name
of religion. Once get the recusant citizen accused of
blasphemy, and, by a divine law, the property of the
blasphemer and rebel went to the crown. "Justice!
How many traitors to sacred truth have dragged the
innocent to destruction!"

Surely black ink never
wrote a fouler plot or death scheme on white paper since
writing was known among men. Every drop had in it the
adder's poison. Every syllable of every word of every
line of every sentence was full of hate toward him who
had done only good continually. Every letter of every
syllable was but the thread which, united with other
threads, made the hangman's noose for him who had not
changed his righteous principles for the whim of a king.
The whole letter was a diabolical death-warrant.

The letters being written,
must be sealed; and the sealing was done, as all these
matters of letter writing and sealing were done, by
rubbing ink on the seal, moistening the paper, and
pressing the seal thereon. And when Jezebel had finished
with her iniquitous pen, she asked Ahab for his signet
ring; with that ring she affixed the royal seal. She
sealed the letters with Ahab's ring (I Kings 21:8). When
Ahab gave it to her he knew it meant crime of some sort,
but he asked no questions. Moreover, Jezebel's deeds
showed that when she went down to market, as it were, she
would have in her basket a nice vineyard for her husband
when she returned. She said to herself: "This man
Naboth has refused my honorable lord on religious
grounds, and by all the gods of Baal, I will get him yet
on these very same grounds." She understood
perfectly the passion of a devout Jew for a public fast;
and she knew that nothing would keep the Jews away. Every
Jew and every member of his household would be there.

"Proclaim a
fast!" Fasting has ever been a sign of humiliation
before God. of humbling one's self in the dust before the
"high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity."
The idea in calling for a fast was clearly to declare
that the community was under the anger of God on account
of a grave crime committed by one of its members, which
crime is to be exposed and punished. Then, too, the fast
involved a cessation of work, a holiday, so that the
citizens would have time to attend the public gathering.

"Set Naboth on
high!" "On high" meant before the bar of
justice, not in the seat of honor. "On high"
meant in the seat of the accused, and not in the seat to
be desired. "On high" meant that Naboth was put
where every eye could watch him closely and keenly
observe his bearing under the accusation. "And set
two men, base fellows, before him." How illegal she
was in bringing about his death in a legal way! For the
law required two witnesses in all cases where the
punishment was death. "At the mouth of two
witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he . . . be put to
death" (Deut. 17:6). The witnesses required by
Jezebel were men of no character, men who would take
bribes and swear to any lie for gain.

And let them "bear
witness against him"! In other words, put him out of
the way by judicial murder, not by private assassination.
"And then Carry him out, and stone him, that he may
die." A criminal was not to be executed within a
city, as that would defile it! Thus Christ was crucified
outside the walls of Jerusalem! We see that Jezebel took
it for granted that Naboth would be condemned.

And so one day, while
Naboth worked in his vineyard, the letters came down to
Jezreel. And one evening, while Naboth talked at the
cottage door with his sons or neighbors, the message
meaning murder was known to the elders of the city. And
that night, while he slept with the wife of his bosom,
the hounds of death let loose from the kennels of hell by
the jewel-adorned fingers of a king's daughter and a
king's wife were close on his heels. The message meaning
murder was known to many but not to him, until they came
and told him that a fast had been proclaimed --
proclaimed because God had been offended at some crime
and that His wrath must be appeased and the threatening
anger turned away, and he himself, all unconscious of any
offense toward God or the king, was to be set in the
place of the accused, even "on high among the
people," to be tried as a conspicuous criminal.

THE FATAL FAST

"They
proclaimed a fast."

And what concern they must
have created in the household of Naboth, when they knew
that Naboth was to be "set on high," even in
the "seat of the accused," even before the bar
of "justice," because of a ferocious message
calling religion in to attest a lie. And what excitement
there was in the city when, with fawning readiness to
carry out her vile commands, the elders and nobles
"fastened the minds" of the people upon the
fast -- proclaimed as if some great calamity were
overhanging the city for their sins like a black cloud
pretending a storm, and proclaimed as if something must
be done at once to avert the doom. Curious throngs
hurried to the fast to see him who had been accused of
the crime which made necessary the appeasing of the
threatening wrath of an angered God.

Yes, the rulers of
Jezreel, either in dread of offending one whose revenge
they knew was terrible, or eager to do a service to one
to whom in temporal matters they were so largely
indebted, or moved with envy against their own iniquity,
carried out her instructions to the letter. They were
ready and efficient tools in her hands. No doubt she had
tested their character as her "butcher boys" in
the slaughter of the prophets of the Lord.

And they did! "And
there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat down
before him" (I Kings 21:13). Satan's hawks ready to
bring death to God's harmless sparrow! Satan's eagles
ready to bury their cruel talons in God's innocent dove.
Satan's bloody wolves ready to kill God's lamb! Satan's
boars ready with keen tusks to rip God's stag to shreds!
Reckless and depraved professional perjurers they were!
"And the men of Belial witnessed against him, even
against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying,
Naboth did blaspheme God and the king" (I Kings
21:13).

Then strong hands jerked
Naboth out of the seat of the accused. Doubtless
muttering curses the while, they dragged him out from
among the throngs of people, while children screamed and
cried, while women shrieked in terror, while men moved in
confusion and murmured in consternation. They dragged him
roughly to a place outside the walls of the city and with
stones they beat his body to the ground.

Naboth fell to the ground
as a lily by hailstones beaten to earth, as a stately
cedar uprooted by furious storm. His head by stones is
crushed, as eggs crushed by the heel of a giant. His legs
are splintered! His arms are broken! His ribs are
crushed. Bones stick out from the mass of human flesh as
fingers of ivory from pots of red paint. Brains, emptied
from his skull, are scattered about. Blood splatters like
crimson rain. Naboth's eyes roll in sockets of blood. His
tongue between broken jaws becomes still. His mauled body
becomes -- at last -- still. His last gasp is a sigh.
Naboth is dead -- dead for cursing God and the king as
many were led to believe!

And we learn from II Kings
9:26, that by the savage law of those days his innocent
sons were involved in his overthrow. They, too, that they
might not claim the inheritance, were slain. And Naboth's
property, left without heirs, reverted to the crown.

Thus it came to pass that
in an orderly fashion, in the name of religion and in the
name of the king, Naboth really fell, not by the king's
hand, but by the condemnation of his fellow citizens.
Yes, the old-fashioned conservatism of Naboth was, in the
judgment of many, sorely out of place in that
"progressive" state of society. No doubt
Naboth's righteous austerity had made him extremely
unpopular in many ways in "progressive
Jezreel." And since Jezebel carried out her purpose
in a perfectly legal and orderly way and in a
"'wonderfully" democratic manner, we see a fine
picture of autocracy working by democratic methods. And
when these "loyally patriotic citizens" of
Jezreel had left the bodies of Naboth and his sons to be
devoured by the wild dogs which prowled after nightfall
in and around the city, they sent and told Queen Jezebel
that her orders had been bloodily and completely obeyed!
"Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is
stoned, and is dead" (I Kings 21:14).

I do not know where
Jezebel was when she received the news of Naboth's death.
Maybe she was out on the lawn watching the fountains
splash. Maybe she was in the sun parlor, or somewhere
listening to the musicians thrum on their instruments.
But, if I judge this painted human viper by her nature, I
say she received the tragic news with devilish delight,
with jubilant merriment. What was it to her that yonder,
over twenty miles away, sat a little woman who the night
before had her husband but who now washed his crushed and
ghastly face with her tears? What did it matter to her
that in Jezreel only yesterday her sons ran to her at her
call hut today were mangled in death? What did it matter
to her that outside the city walls the dogs licked the
blood of a godly husband? What mattered it to her that
Jehovah God has been defied, His commandments broken, His
altars splattered with pagan mud, His holy Name profaned?
What mattered it to her that the worship of God had been
dishonored? What did she care if a wife, tragically
widowed by murder, walked life's way in loneliness? What
did she care that there was lamentation and grief and
great mourning, "Rachel weeping for her children
because they were not"? What did she care if justice
had been outraged just so she had gotten the little plot
of land close by their palace, within which was evil girt
with diadem? Nothing! Did pang grip her heart because
innocent blood had been shed? Just as well ask if the
ravenous lion mourns over the lamb it devours.

Trippingly, as a gay
dancer, she hurried to where Ahab sat. With profuse
caresses and words glib with joy she told him the
"good" news. She had about her the triumphant
manner of one who has accomplished successfully what
others had not dared attempt. Her "tryout" in
getting the vineyard was a decided "triumph."
She had "pulled the stunt." She had been
"brave" and "wise" -- and because of
this her husband now could arise and hie him down to the
vineyard and call it his own.

In her words and manner
there was jubilant elation bordering on the satanic.
"Arise!" she said. "Get thee down and take
possession of the vineyard of Naboth. I told thee I would
get his vineyard for thee. And I got for nothing what
thou wast going to give a better vineyard for!"

And it came to pass,
when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was
dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take
possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite,
which be refused to give thee for money: for Naboth
is not alive, but dead (I Kings 21:15).

It was the plot hatched in
her own mind and it was her hand, her lily-white hand,
her queen's hand, that wrote the letters that made this
tragic statement true.

The next scene in this
tragedy of "Payday Someday" is:

THE VISIT TO THE VINEYARD

"Ahab rose up
to go down to the vineyard."

How Jezebel must have
paraded with pride before Ahab when she went with tidings
that the vineyard which he wanted to buy was now his for
nothing! How keen must have been the sarcasm of her
attitude when she made it known by word and manner that
she had succeeded where he failed -- and at less cost!
How gloatingly victorious were the remarks which she made
which kept him warmly reminded that she had kept her
"sacred" promise! What a lovely fabric, stained
and dyed red with Naboth's blood, she spread before him
for his "comfort" from the loom of her evil
machinations!

"And it came to pass,
when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up
to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to
take possession of it" (I Kings 21:16). Ahab rose up
to go down -- from Samaria to Jezreel. He gave orders to
his royal wardrobe keeper to get out his king's clothes,
because he had a little "business" trip to make
to hook over some property that had come to him by the
shrewdness of his wife in the real estate market!

Yes, Naboth, the good man
who "feared the lord," is dead; and Ahab
expresses no condemnation of this awful conspiracy,
culminating in such a tragic horror. Though afraid or
restrained by his conscience from committing murder
himself, he had no scruple in availing himself of the
results of such crime when perpetrated by another. He
flattered himself that, by the splendid genius of his
queen in bloody matters, he, though having no part in the
crime which did Naboth to death, might, as well as
another, "receive the benefit of his dying."

And you will notice just
here that not one noble or elder had divulged the
terrible secret which had given the semblance of legality
to atrocious villainy. And, Ahab, rejoicing in the bloody
garment woven on the loom of his wife's evil
machinations, gave orders to those in charge of livery
stables to get ready his royal chariot for an unexpected
trip. Jehu and Bidkar, the royal charioteers, make ready
the great horses such as kings had in those days. Jehu
was the speed-breaking driver of his day, known as the
one who drove furiously. The gilded chariot is drawn
forth. The fiery horses are harnessed and to the king's
chariot hitched. The outriders, in gorgeous garments
dressed, saddle their horses and make ready to accompany
the king in something of military state. Then, amid the
chatter of prancing hoofs and the loud breathing of the
chariot horses -- eager-eyes, alert, strong-muscled,
bellows-lunged, stouthearted, and agile of feet -- Jehu
drives the horses and the chariot up to the palace steps.
Out from the palace doors, with Jezebel walking, almost
strutting, proudly and gaily at his side, comes Ahab.
Down the steps he goes while Jezebel, perhaps, waves a
bejeweled hand to him or speaks a "sweet"
good-by. Bidkar opens the chariot door. Ahab steps in.
Then, with the crack of his whip or a sharp command by
word of mouth, Jehu sends the great horses on their way
-- away from the palace steps, away from the palace
grounds, away through the gates, away, accompanied by the
outriders, away down the road to Jezreel!

Where is God? Where is
God? ls He blind that He cannot see? Is He deaf that He
cannot hear? Is He dumb that He cannot speak? Is He
paralyzed that He cannot move? Where is God? Well, wait a
minute, and we shall see.

Over there in the palace
Jezebel said to Ahab her husband:

"Arise! Get thee down
and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth." And
over in the wilderness way, out where the tall cedars
waved against the moon like green plumes against a silver
shield, out where the only music of the night was the
weird call of whippoorwill and the cough of coyote and
the howl of wolf, out there God had an eagle-eyed, hairy,
stout-hearted prophet, a great physical and spiritual
athlete, Elijah. "And the Word of the Lord came to
Elijah." And God said to Elijah: "Arise, go
down."

Over here, in the palace,
Jezebel said to Ahab: "Arise, get thee down!"
And out there, near Carmel, God said to Elijah:
"Arise!" I am so glad that I live in a universe
where, when the Devil has his Ahab to whom he can say,
"Arise," God has His Elijah to whom He can say,
"Arise!"

And the word of the
Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go
down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in
Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth,
whither be is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt
speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast
thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou
shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In
the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth,
shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine (I Kings
21:17-19).

As Ahab goes down to
Jezreel, the voice of Jehu, as he restrains the fiery
horses, or the lash of his whip as he urges them on,
attracts the attention of the grazing cattle in adjacent
pasture hand. The sound of clanking hoofs of cantering
horses resounds in every glen by the roadway. The gilded
chariot catches the light of the sun and reflects it
brightly, but he who rides therein is unmindful of the
bloodstains on the ground where Naboth died. Dust clouds
arise from the chariot's wheels and wild winds blow them
across the fields where the plowman or the reaper wonders
who goes so swiftly along the highway. The neighing
steeds announce to all that Ahab's royal horses tire not
in Carrying him down from Samaria to Jezreel. And soon
many know that the chariot carried the king who was going
down to possess what had reverted to the crown, even the
vineyard of Naboth, which Naboth refused to sell to him.
Would the "game" be worth the
"candle"? Would Ahab learn that sin buys
pleasure at the price of peace? We shall see -- and that
right soon!

And that brings us to the
other scene in his tragedy of "Payday Someday."
It is:

THE ALARMING APPEARANCE

"The word of
the Lord came to Elijah."

The journey of twenty-odd
miles from Samaria to Jezreel is over. Jehu brings the
horses to a stop outside the gate to the vineyard. The
horses stretch their necks trying to get slack on the
reins. They have stood well the furious pace at which
they have been driven. Around the rim of their harness is
the foam of their sweat. On their flanks are, perhaps,
the marks of Jehu's whip. They breathe as though their
great lungs were a tireless bellows. The outriders line
up in something of military formation. The hands of ready
servants open the gate to the vineyard. Bidkar opens the
chariot door. And Ahab steps out into Naboth's vineyard.
There, no doubt, he sees, in the soft soil, Naboth's
footprints. Close by, doubtless, the smaller footprints
of his wife he sees. Naboth is dead, and the coveted
vineyard is now Ahab's through the "gentle
scheming" of the queen of his house. Perhaps Ahab,
as he walks into the vineyard, sees Naboth's pruning hook
among the vines. Or he notices the fine trellis work
which Naboth's hands had fastened together for the
growing vines. Perhaps, in a corner of the vineyard is a
seat where Naboth and his sons rested after the day's
toil, or a well where sparkling waters refreshed the
thirsty or furnished water for the vines in time of
drought.

Ahab walks around his
newly-gotten vineyard. The rows of vines glisten in the
sunlight. Maybe a breeze moves the leaves on the vines.
Ahab admires trellis and cluster. As he walks, he plans
how he will have the royal gardener to pull up those
vines and plant cucumbers, squash, garlic, onions,
cabbage and other vegetables that he may have his
"garden of herbs."

And while Ahab strolls
among the vines that Naboth tended, what is it that
appears? Snarling wild boasts? No. Black clouds full of
threatening storm? No, not that. Flaming lightning which
dazzles him? No. War chariots of his ancient enemies
rumbling along the road? No. An oncoming flood sweeping
things before it? No; not a flood. A tornado goring the
earth? No. A huge serpent threatening to encircle him and
crush his bones in its deadly coils? No; not a serpent.
What then? What alarmed Ahab so? let us follow him and
see.

"Ahab thought Elijah had been cowed and silenced by Jezebel, but now the prophet confronts him with his death warrant from the Lord God Almighty."

As Ahab goes walking through the
rows of vines, he begins to plan how he will have that
vineyard arranged by his royal gardener, how flowers will
be here and vegetables yonder and herbs there. As he
converses with himself, suddenly a shadow falls across
his path. Quick as a flash Ahab whirls on his heels, and
there, before him, stands Elijah, prophet of the living
God. Elijah's cheeks are swarthy; his eye is keen and
piercing; like coals of fire, his eyes burn with
righteous indignation in their sockets; his bosom heaves;
his head is held high. His only weapon is a staff: his
only robe a sheepskin, and a leather girdle about his
loins. Like an apparition from the other world, like
Banquo's ghost at Macbeth's feast, Elijah, with
suddenness terrifying, stands before Ahab. Ahab had not
seen Elijah for five years. Ahab thought Elijah had been
cowed and silenced by Jezebel, but now the prophet
confronts him with his death warrant from the Lord God
Almighty.

To Ahab there is an
eternity of agony in the few moments they stand thus,
face to face, eye to eye, soul to soul! His voice is
hoarse, like the cry of a hunted animal. He trembles like
a hunted stag before the mouths of fierce hounds.
Suddenly his face goes white. His lips quiver. He had
gone to take possession of a vineyard, coveted for a
garden of herbs; and there he is face to face with
righteousness, face to face with honor, face to face with
judgment. The vineyard, with the sun shining upon it now,
is as black as if it were part of the midnight which has
gathered in judgment. Like Poe 's raven "his soul
from out that shadow shall be" lifted -- nevermore.

"And Ahab said to
Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" (I Kings
21:20) and Elijah, without a tremor in his voice, his
eyes burning their way into Ahab's guilty soul, answered:
"I have found thee: because thou has sold thyself to
work evil in the sight of the Lord." Then, with
every word a thunderbolt, and every sentence a withering
denunciation, Elijah continued:

Hast thou killed, and
also taken possession? . . . Thus saith the Lord, In
the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall
dogs lick thy blood, even thine . . . Behold, I will
bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy
posterity . . . And will make thine house like the
house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the
house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the
provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger,
and made Israel to sin! (I Kings 21:l9, 21,22).

And then, plying other
words mercilessly like a terrible scourge to the Cringing
Ahab, Elijah said:

And of Jezebel also
spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by
the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the
city the dogs shall eat: and him that dieth in the
field shall the fowls of the air eat (I Kings
21:23,24).

And, with these words,
making Ahab to cower as one cowers and recoils from a
hissing adder, finding Naboth's vineyard to be haunted
with ghosts and the clusters thereof to be full of blood,
Elijah went his way -- as was his custom so suddenly to
appear and so quickly to disappear.

Ahab had sold himself for
nought, as did Achan for a burial robe and a useless
ingot, as did Judas for thirty pieces of silver which so
burned his palms and so burned his conscience and so
burned his soul that he found relief in the noose at the
rope's end. And when Ahab got back in the chariot to go
back to Jezebel -- the vile toad who squatted upon the
throne to be again with the beautiful adder coiled upon
the throne -- the hoofs of the horses pounding the road
pounded into his guilty soul Elijah's words:
"Someday -- the dogs will lick thy blood! Someday
the dogs will eat Jezebel by the ramparts of
Jezreel." God had spoken! Would it come to pass?

And now we come to the
last scene in this tragedy, "Payday Someday."
It is:

PAYDAY ITSELF

Did God mean what He said?
Or was He playing a prank on royalty? Did payday come?
"Pay Day -- Someday" is written in the
constitution of God's universe. The retributive
providence of God is a reality as certainly as the laws
of gravitation are a reality.

And to Ahab and Jezebel,
payday came as certainly as night follows day, because
sin carries in itself the seed of its own fatal penalty.

Dr. Meyer says:
"According to God's constitution of the world, the
wrongdoer will be abundantly punished." The fathers
sow the wind and the children reap the whirlwind. One
generation labors to scatter tares, and the next
generation reaps tares and retribution immeasurable. To
the individual who goes not the direction God points, a
terrible pay-day comes. To the nation which forgets God,
payday will come in the awful realization of the truth
that the "nations which forget God shall be turned
into hell." When nations trample on the principles
of the Almighty, the result is that the world is beaten
with many stripes. We have seen nations slide into
Gehenna -- and the smoke of their torment has gone up
before our eyes day and night.

"'Ichabod' will be written about the church that soft-pedals on unpleasant truth or that stands not unwaveringly for 'the faith once delivered.'"

To the home that has no room for the Christ,
death and grave clothes are certain. "Ichabod"
will be written about the church that soft-pedals on
unpleasant truth or that stands not unwaveringly for
"the faith once delivered" -- and it will
acknowledge its retribution in that it will become
"a drifting sepulcher manned by a frozen crew."

A man can prostitute God's
holy Name to profane lips if he will, but he is
forewarned as to the pay-day in the words: "The lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain
(Ex. 20:7).

A man can, if he will,
follow the way of some wicked woman; but God leaves him
not without warning as to the payday, in the words:

He goeth after her
straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a
fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart
strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the
snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life . . .
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong
men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to
hell, going down to the chambers of death (Prov.
7:22,23, 26, 27).

People can drink booze, if
they will, and offer the damnable bottle to others, if
they will, but the certainty of "Payday
Someday" is read in the words: No drunkard
"shall inherit the kingdom of God," (I Cor
6:10) and in the words: "At the last it biteth like
a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Prov.
23:32). The certainty of "Payday Someday" for
all who regard not God or man is set forth in the words
of an unknown poet:

You'll pay. The knowledge
of your acts will weigh

Heavier on your mind each day.

The more you climb, the more you gain,

The more you'll feel the nagging strain.

Success will cower at the threat

Of retribution. Fear will fret

Your peace and bleed you for the debt;

Conscience collects from every crook

More than the worth of what he took,

You only thought you got away

But in the night you'll pay and pay.

Churchill expressed the
certainty of God's retributive justice when, speaking of
Mussolini, he said.

Mussolini is swept into
the maelstrom of his own making. The flames of war he
kindled burn himself. He and his people are taking the
stinging lash of the whip they applied to Ethiopia and
Albania. They pay for Fascist sins with defeat, despair,
death. Mussolini's promise of life like a lion turns into
the existence of a beaten cur!

Years before the
statesman, Winston Churchill, spoke these words, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, in his Compensation wrote:

Crime and punishment grow
out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that unsuspected
ripens within the flower of the pleasure that concealed
it. Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, can
rot be severed, for the effect already blooms in the
cause. The end pre-exists in the means -- the fruit in
the seed.

Paul Lawrence Dunbar
showed wisdom as great as the wisdom of Churchill and a
knowledge of Nature's laws as great as Emerson's
knowledge when he wrote the autobiography of many
individual sinners in these poetic and potent words:

This is the price I pay --

Just for one riotous day --

Years of regret and of grief,

And sorrow without relief.

Suffer it I will, my friend,

Suffer it until the end,

Until the grave shall give relief.

Small was the thing I bought,

Small was the thing at best,

Small was the debt, I thought,

But, O God! -- the interest.

All these statements are
but verification of Bible truth:

Whoso diggeth a pit
shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone,
it will return upon him (Prov. 26:27).

Therefore shall they
eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled
with their own devices. For the turning away of
the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of
fools shall destroy them (Prov. 1:31,32).

Even as I have seen,
they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap
the same (Job 4:8).

For they have sown
the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind (Hos.
8:7).

The gods are just --
and of our vices make instruments to scourge us.

When I was pastor of the
First Baptist Church of New Orleans, all that I preached
and taught was sent out over the radio. In my "fan
mail" I received letters from a young man who called
himself '"Chief of the Kangaroo Court." Many
nasty, critical things he said. Sometimes he wrote a nice
line--and a nice line was, in all the vulgar things he
wrote, like a gardenia in a garbage can. One day I
received a telephone call from a nurse in the Charity
Hospital of New Orleans. It was about this fellow who so
often dipped his pen in slop, who seldom thrust his pen
into nectar. She said: "Pastor, there is a young man
down here whose name we do not know, who will not tell us
his name. All he will tell us is that he is chief of the
Kangaroo Court. He is going to die. He says that you are
the only preacher in New Orleans that he has ever heard
-- and he has never seen you.

He wants to see you. Will
you come down?" "Yes," I replied. And I
quit what I was doing and hurried down to the hospital.

The young nurse met me at
the entrance to the charity ward and took me in. A glance
around showed me cots on the north side, cots on the
south side, beds on the east side and beds on the west
side - and clusters of cots in the center of the huge
ward. In a place by itself, somewhat removed from all
other cots and beds, was a bed on which lay a young man
about nineteen or twenty years of age -- big of frame,
though the ravages of disease had brought a slenderness.
The nurse, with little ado, introduced me to the young
man, saying: "This, sir, is the Chief of the
Kangaroo Court."

I found myself looking
into two of the wildest, weirdest eves I have ever seen.
As kindly as I could, I spoke, saying "Hello."
"Howdy do?" he answered in a voice that was a
discourteous and furious snarl -- more like the voice of
a mad wolf than the voice of a rational man. '"Is
there something I can do for you?" I asked as kindly
as I could speak.

"No. Nothing! Not a
thing. Nothin' 'tall! -- unless you throw my body to the
buzzards when I am dead -- if the buzzards will have
it!" he said, with half a shout and with a sort of
fierce resentment that made me wonder why he had ever
sent for me.

Then his voice lost some
of the snarl -- and he spoke again. "I sent for you,
sir, because I want you to tell these young fellows here
something for me. I sent for you because I know you go up
and down the land and talk to many young people. And I
want you to tell 'em, and tell 'em every chance you get,
that the Devil pays only in counterfeit money."

"Oh! I wish I could tell all men and women and all boys and girls everywhere to believe the truth that Satan always pays in counterfeit money, that all his pearls are paste pearls, that the nectar he offers is poisoned through and through."

Oh! I wish I could tell all men and women
and all boys and girls everywhere to believe the truth
that Satan always pays in counterfeit money, that all his
pearls are paste pearls, that the nectar he offers is
poisoned through and through. Oh, that men would learn
the truth and be warned by the truth that if they eat the
Devil's corn, he will choke them with the cob.

I stayed with this young
man nearly two hours. Occasionally he spoke. There was a
desperate earnestness in the young man's voice as he
looked at me with wild eyes where terror was enthroned.
After while I saw those eyes become as though they were
glass as he gazed at the ceiling above. I saw his huge
lean chest heave like a bellows. I felt his hand clutch
at mine as a drowning man would grab for a rope. I held
his hand. I heard the raucous gurgle in his throat. Then
he became quiet -- like a forest when the cyclone is long
gone.

When he died, the little
nurse called me to her, excitedly. "Come here!"
she called.

"What do you want,
child?" I asked.

"I want to wash your
hands!" She meant she wanted to wash my hands with a
disinfectant. Then she added -- with something of fright
in her words, "It's dangerous to touch him!"

The Devil had paid the
young man off in counterfeit money.

But what about Ahab? Did
payday come for him? Yes. Consider how. Three years went
by. Ahab was still king. And I dare say that during those
three years Jezebel had reminded him that they were
eating herbs out of Naboth's vineyard. I can hear her say
something like this as they sat at the king's table:
"Ahab, help yourself to these herbs. I thought
Elijah said the dogs were going to lick your blood. I
guess his dogs lost their noses and lost the trail."

But I think that during
those three years, Ahab never heard a dog bark that he
did not jump.

One day Jehoshaphat, king
of Judah, visited Ahab. The Bible tells us what took
place -- what was said, what was done:

And the king of Israel
said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead
is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the
hand of the king of Syria? And he said unto
Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to
Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of
Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my
horses as thy horses (I Kings 22:3,4).

So the king of Israel
and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to
Ramoth-gilead (I Kings 22:29).

Ahab, after Jehoshaphat
had promised to go with him, in his heart was afraid, and
had sad forebodings, dreadful premonitions, horrible
fears. Remembering the withering words of Elijah three
years before, he disguised himself -- put armor on his
body and covered this armor with ordinary citizen's
clothes.

And the king of Israel
said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and
enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And
the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into
the battle (I Kings 22:30).

The Syrian general had
given orders to slay only the king of Israel -- Ahab.

But the king of Syria
commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule
over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small
nor great, save only with the king of Israel (I Kings
22:31).

Jehoshaphat was not
injured, although he wore his royal clothes.

And it came to pass,
when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat,
that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And
they turned aside to fight against him: and
Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the
captains of the chariots perceived that it was not
the king of Israel, that they turned back from
pursuing him (I Kings 22:32,33).

While war steeds neighed
and war chariots rumbled and shields clashed on shields
and arrows whizzed and spears were thrown and swords were
wielded, a death-carrying arrow, shot by an aimless and
nameless archer, found the crack in Ahab's armor.

And a certain man drew
a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel
between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said
unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and
carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the
battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up
in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even:
and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of
the chariot . . . And one washed the chariot in the
pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood;
and they washed his armour; according unto the Word
of the Lord which He spake (I Kings 22:34, 35, 38).

Thus we learn that no man
can evade God's laws with impunity. All of God's laws are
their own executioners. They have strange penalties
annexed. Stolen waters are sweet. But every ounce of
sweetness makes a pound of nausea. Nature keeps honks
pitilessly. Man's credit with her is good. But Nature
collects. And there is no land to which you can flee and
escape her bailiffs. Every day her bloodhounds track down
the men and women who owe her.

But what about Jezebel?
Did her payday come? Yes -- after twenty years. After
Ahab's death, after the dogs had licked his blood, she
virtually ruled the kingdom. But I think that she went
into the temple of Baal on occasions and prayed her god
Baal to protect her from Elijah's hounds.

Elijah had been taken home
to heaven without the touch of the deathdew upon his
brow. Elisha had succeeded him.

And Elisha the prophet
called one of the children of the prophets, and said
unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil
in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead: And when thou
comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of
Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make
him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him
to an inner chamber; Then take the box of oil and
pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I
have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the
door and flee, and tarry not. So the young man, even
the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead .
And when he came, behold, the captains of the host
were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee,
O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And
he said, To thee, O captain. And he arose, and went
into the house; and he poured the oil on his head,
and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I have anointed thee king over the people of the
Lord, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite the
house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood
of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the
servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel . . .
And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of
Baasha the son of Ahijab: And the dogs shall eat
Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be
none to bury her. And be opened the door, and fled
(II Kings 9:1- 7,9,10).

Jehu was just the man for
such an occasion -- furious in his anger, rapid in his
movements, unscrupulous, yet zealous to uphold the law of
Moses.

Then Jehu came forth
to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him,
Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?
And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his
communication. And they said, It is false; tell us
now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me,
saying, Thus saitb the Lord, I have anointed thee
king over Israel. Then they basted, and took every
man his garment, and put it under him on the top of
the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is
king (II Kings 9:11-13).

Mounting his chariot,
commanding and taking with him a company of his most
reliable soldiers, furiously did he drive nearly sixty
miles to Jezreel.

So Jehu rode in a
chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there.
And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel,
and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and
said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an
horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is
it peace? So there went one on horseback to meet him,
and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu
said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee
behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The
messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. Then
he sent out a second on horseback, which came to
them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And
Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn
thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, He
came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the
driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of
Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. And Joram said,
Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram
king of Israel and Ahaziab king of Judah went out,
each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu,
and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jerreelite.
And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he
said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace,
so long as the whoredoms of thy mother jezebel and
her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his
hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is
treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his
full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms,
and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down
in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain,
Take up, and cast him in tlie portion of the field of
Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I
and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the
Lord laid this burden upon him; Surely I have seen
yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his
sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this
plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him
into the plat of ground, according to the word of the
Lord (II Kings 9:16-26).

"And when Jehu was
come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it." Pause! Who is
Jehu? He is the one who, twenty years before the events
of this chapter from which we quote, rode down with Ahab
to take Naboth's vineyard, the one who throughout those
twenty years never forgot those withering words of
terrible denunciation which Elijah spoke. And who is
Jezebel? Oh! The very same who wrote the letters and had
Naboth put to death. And what is Jezreel? The place where
Naboth had his vineyard and where Naboth died, his life
pounded out by stones in the hands of ruffians. "And
when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and
she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out
at a window."

Just here I think of what
the poet, Leslie Savage Clark, wrote:

From the palace casement
she looked down,

Queenly, scornful, proud,

And watched with cold indifferent eyes

The weary ragged crowd.

Of the wage of sin she never thought,

Nor that a crown might fall ...

Nor did she note the hungry dogs

Skulking along the wall.

And as Jehu, the new king
by the will and word of the lord, entered in at the gate,
she asked: "Had Zimri peace who slew his
master?" And Jehu lifted up his face to the window
and said, "Who is on my side? who? And there looked
out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her
down" (II Kings 9:30-33).

These men put their strong
men's fingers into her soft feminine flesh and picked her
up, tired head and all, painted face and all, bejeweled
fingers and all, silken skirts and all -- and threw her
down. Her body hit the street and burst open. Some of her
blood splattered on the legs of Jehu's horses,
dishonoring them. Some of her blood splattered on the
walls of the city, disgracing them.

And Jehu drove his horses
and chariot over her. There she lies, twisting in death
agony in the street. Her body is crushed by the chariot
wheels. On her white bosom are the black crescent-shapes
of horses' hoofs. She is hissing like an adder in the
fire. Jehu drove away and left her there.

And when he was come
in he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this
cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's
daughter. And they went to bury her: hut they found
no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the
palms of her hands (II Kings 9:34, 35).

God Almighty saw to it
that the hungry dogs despised the brains that conceived
the plot that took Naboth's life. God Almighty saw to it
that the mangy lean dogs of the back alleys despised the
hands that wrote the plot that took Naboth's life. God
Almighty saw to it that the lousy dogs which ate carrion
despised the feet that walked in Baal's courts and then
in Naboth's vineyard.

These soldiers of Jehu
went back to Jehu and said: "We went to bury her, O
king, but the dogs had eaten her!"

And Jehu replied:

This is the word of
the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the
Tishbite saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs
eat the flesh of Jezebel. And the carcase of Jezebel
shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the
portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This
is Jezebel (II Kings 9:36, 37).

Thus perished a female
demon, the most infamous queen who ever wore a royal
diadem.

"Payday
Someday!" God said it -- and it was done! Yes, and
from this we learn the power and certainty of God in
carrying out His own retributive providence, that men
might know that His justice slumbereth not. Even though
the mill of God grinds slowly, it grinds to powder.

Yes, the judgments of God
often have leaden heels and travel slowly. But they
always have iron hands and crush completely.

And when I see Ahab fall
in his chariot and when I see the dogs eating Jezebel by
the walls of Jezreel, I say, as the Scripture saith:
"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments;
then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness
as the waves of the sea" (Isa. 48:18). And as I
remember that the gains of ungodliness are weighted with
the curse of God, I ask you: "'Wherefore do ye spend
money for that which is not bread? and your labour for
that which satisfieth not?" (Isa. 55:2).

And the only way I know
for any man or woman on earth to escape the sinner's
payday on earth and the sinner's hell beyond -- making
sure of the Christian's payday on earth and the
Christian's heaven beyond the Christian's payday -- is
through Christ Jesus, who took the sinner's place upon
the Cross, becoming for all sinners all that God must
judge, that sinners through faith in Christ Jesus might
become all that God cannot judge.

Here are ten proofs from Scripture, that jesus did not make Alcohol.

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THE FIRST REASON IS BECAUSE OF HIS HOLY NATURE. In Heb. 7:26, we read that the Lord Jesus is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." No doubt, the Saviour, being God in the flesh, had an air of holiness about Himself that could be seen by even the most casual observer. For instance, the profane soldiers, who were sent to arrest Him, gave as their reason for returning without Him, that "never a man spake like this man." (John 7:46) The words of Jesus were different; He, no doubt, had a very holy appearance, character, and speech.

Why is this so important? Consider this illustration. The word "cider" may mean an alcoholic beverage, or plain apple juice. Suppose we lived during the 1920s, prohibition days, and were approached by two people offering us a drink of cider. One of the persons, we knew to be one of the holiest men in town, faithful to the house of God, separated from the world, diligent in prayers, always witnessing to others; the other was a known liquor dealer. If each one offered us a drink of "his very own cider," we would assume that the holy person's was no more than apple juice, but there would be no doubt about our opinion regarding the liquor dealer's cider! Obviously, the character of a person influences what that one does.

Since the Lord Jesus Christ was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," we may safely assume that He would not make that which is called in Scripture a mocker and deceiver of man, causing untold misery.

A SECOND REASON: HE WOULD NOT CONTRADICT SCRIPTURE. In Mt. 5:17-18, Christ made this clear, saying, "Think not that I am come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Therefore, Christ could not have contradicted Hab. 2:15, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!"

Certainly, Jesus knew that this verse was in the Bible; He was well-acquainted with Scripture, since it is His Word and was written about Him. He did not come to violate Scripture, but to fulfill it. He could not have done so, if He had made alcoholic wine and had given it to his neighbor.

Some people object to the use of this verse by saying that it would apply only to one who would give his neighbor drink for the purpose of looking on his nakedness. But we must remember: when one gives his neighbor something which will make him drunk, he is putting himself in the very class of those who do so in order to look on their nakedness. And since the Scripture commands us to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Th. 5:22), we can be sure that the Lord Jesus would not have done something that would have been associated with such an evil practice as that described in Hab. 2:15. For the same reason, no Christian should be engaged in the selling of alcoholic beverage.

THE THIRD REASON IS THAT LEV. 10:9-11 COMMANDS THE PRIEST OF GOD, "DO NOT DRINK WINE NOR STRONG DRINK ... That Ye May Put Difference Between Holy And Unholy, And Between Unclean And Clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statues which the Lord hath spoken..." Now, since Heb. 2:17 calls Christ "a merciful and faithful high priest," we would expect Him to obey all Scriptures pertaining to that office. If He had made or drunk alcoholic wine, He would have disobeyed these verses and would have been disqualified from teaching the children of Israel the statues of the Lord.

THE FOURTH REASON IS FOUND IN A PASSAGE WHICH WE HAVE ALREADY CONSIDERED: PR. 31:4-5 PROHIBITS KINGS AND PRINCES FROM DRINKING ALCOHOLIC WINE OR ANY OTHER STRONG DRINK. IF THEY HAD DONE SO, THEIR JUDGMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN PERVERTED. It was necessary for Christ to obey these verses also, since He was Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6) and King of Kings (Rev. 19:16). In Mt. 27:11, He admitted to being the King of the Jews. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, to fulfill Zec. 9:9, which prophesied that Israel's king would enter the city in just that way. Undoubtedly, He was king, and as such, would have had to obey Pr. 31:4-5.

REASON FIVE: CHRIST DID NOT COME TO MOCK OR DECEIVE PEOPLE, yet Pr. 20:1 says that wine does both. Rather than coming to mock or deceive he came to save!

REASON SIX: HE DID NOT COME TO SEND PEOPLE TO HELL. We have already seen that Is. 5:11-14 teaches that Hell had to be enlarged because of the drinking of alcoholic beverage. Christ did not come to send people to Hell; listen to Jn. 3:17: "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

REASON SEVEN: CHRIST DID NOT COME TO CAST A STUMBLINGBLOCK BEFORE ANYONE; yet, Rom. 14:21 teaches that a person who gives another alcoholic wine does just that. "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." Everyone who has studied the problem of alcoholism has learned that some people cannot handle any amount of alcohol, while others may drink one or two "social" drinks and stop. Experts do not know why this is true; various theories have been propounded, but nothing has been proved to be true regarding every person. Some say it is chemical; others insist that it must be psychological. The fact is, we do not know for certain. In any given group of people, there would be several potential alcoholics. What a shame it would be for a person, who is a potential slave to it, to get his first taste at the Lord's table in church, then proceed down the road of misery to an alcoholic's grave!

I certainly would not want my children to get their first taste of alcohol at the family meal; nor would I want them to get it at church. One or more of them could well be potential alcoholics. As evidence that this is possible, we should consider that some denominations which serve alcoholic wine in their religious services also operate homes for alcoholic priests!

But we can be absolutely sure that Christ did not come to cause others to stumble!

THE EIGHTH REASON: JOHN 2, THE MIRACLE OF TURNING WATER INTO WINE, DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT IT BE ALCOHOLIC. Many insist that it was, on the basis of verse 10, which says, "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now." They would say that, in those days, it was common to serve the best alcoholic wine at first, saving the worst until later, when men's tastes have been dulled by much drinking. But the point is just the opposite here! These people could definitely recognize that the wine which Jesus made was much better than what they had been served at first. This could not have been possible if they were already well on their way to becoming intoxicated! The fact is, neither the wine which they had at first, nor that which Christ made, was alcoholic.

REASON NINE IS FOUND IN THE SAME PASSAGE: THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN GLORY FROM MAKING DRUNK PEOPLE DRUNKER. Verse 11 is most important when it states that, by this miracle, Jesus "manifested forth his glory." Verse 10 indicates that the people had drunk quite a bit of whatever kind of wine they were drinking. If it had been alcoholic, they would have been intoxicated, or nearly so. Had Christ made alcoholic wine, He would have made drunk people drunker, or almost-drunk people completely drunk! Such a deed would certainly not have manifested any glory to Him!

This chapter also gives us the tenth reason: making drunk people drunker would not have caused his disciples to believe more strongly on him, yet verse 11 says that, as a result of what He did in turning the water into wine, "his disciples believed on him." Jn. 1:41 shows that they had already believed on Him as Messiah; this was a deepening of their faith and a proof that they had not been wrong. Would making drunk people drunker inspire such faith? The opposite would be likely! They were not looking for a Messiah who would pass out free booze! Thus, because of the description of this miracle and its result, we can not conclude otherwise than that this wine was non-alcoholic.

God Bless,
Alan Cox

FUNDAMENTAL BIBLE PREACHING HERE!

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This site will be dedicated to the great preaching of the word of God that has brought repentence and faith to millions through the ages. Lord willing you will be able to download and listen to great preaching from the site as i collect it from around the web as supplybthe links needfull for your edification. I hope also to be able to reprint sermons or provide the links so that God's people can Be encouraged, admonished Rebuked and Exhorted and comforted through the preaching of His Word! Some of the Sermons will be controversial! Good! Amen!

There will eb Pictures of great evangelists and Teachers of God's word through the years. Please keep this effort in your prayers.

In Christ

The Preacher

Christ's Assembly
Freedom Baptist Church
In Marion County Florida