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Another
Angel
The hand of God still rules
the universe. The hand of God still vindicates His
people. God is still able to take care of every
circumstance if we have enough patience and faith
to leave it with Him. He will bring it to pass: He
will bring judgment upon every
circumstance.
In our previous message, John
saw a picture of a group of people back on Mount
Zion. We explained that they were not only blood
redeemed, but that they were also redeemed from
the earth. They were redeemed by the Word. We
proved that there is redemption by the Word, as
well as by the blood. This was symbolized by the
singing of a new song that had never been sung
before which the saints before them could not
sing.
The former saints were redeemed by
the blood, but these were redeemed from earthly
organizations when they heard the voice of God and
the voice of Christ. As they obeyed it, my
friends, they were delivered into an experience
where they could sing a new song that people who
had never been delivered out of Babylon (false
religion) could not sing. The message The Church
preaches is distinct: it is not preached anywhere
else. This new song just can't be sung in a
strange land--and anywhere but The Church is a
strange land.
After John saw this picture
of people on Mount Zion, he began to see something
else. He said, And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach... Most systems of religion have the
people working themselves to death, financially
and every other way, to build up their system.
When, however, you can get people delivered from
the systems and from the strain of building up
those systems, you will see a people do just what
the lesson is telling us. The burden of bearing
the everlasting Gospel to a lost and dying world
will fall on those people's hearts.
After
John saw this group gathered together who were
redeemed from the earth, who were without fault
before the throne of God, he saw an angel, or a
ministry, fly in the midst of heaven with the
everlasting Gospel to preach. That word fly
doesn't mean he is up in the air floating around.
This word fly means, "rapidly, moving
quickly". If we could really see a picture of our
world as God sees it and the shortness of the
time, there would be a little more rapid moving. I
wonder if there would be a night go by but what we
would be delaring the Gospel
somewhere.
Here was a people who got close
enough to Christ to get a vision of what was going
on. We need to be stirred today. Too many people's
vision is not keen enough. That is why we are so
slow in some respects of bearing the everlasting
Gospel to a lost and dying world. If you get close
enough to Jesus, you will be a little more rapid
in your efforts of reaching the world. This is
definitely sure. Nobody ever got close to Jesus
without feeling a stirring burden to help a world
and bear the Gospel to
them.
Heavenly
Places
So here we have
a picture of a ministry flying in the midst of
heaven. This heaven refers to the heavenly
position of Mount Zion, The Church. We are caught
up into heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). When you
get up in the top of Mount Zion, you will think
you are in Heaven. Too many are living only
halfway up the mountain. Someone might say, "You
couldn't call it heaven." Yes, you can. When you
get a people awake from the systems, they come to
where Jesus is. When we come to Mount Zion, we
come to God and to Jesus (Hebrews 12:22-24). We
have come to a clean people. We have come to a
people who love the Lord, who live square lives.
There is no one on top of Mount Zion who backbites
or talks out of both sides of their mouth. No,
everyone comes without fault before the throne of
God. When we get where Jesus is, where there is a
clean people, who think clean, talk clean, act
clean, dress clean, smell clean, and with no guile
in their mouth, you have reached the heaven on
earth. I know there is a Heaven to go to, but
Thank God, there is a heaven on earth.
We
know that when you see Zion, you will see people
harping on their harps, a picture of praise,
thanksgiving, and rejoicing. Certainly that is
necessary, but there is more to being in Zion than
just rejoicing. Every one of us needs to realize
that we are the firstfruits, and that firstfruit
can be updated. The firstfruits are actually a
picture of Brother Warner, some of the early
reformers, and the early people who came into the
evening time light of truth. They were just the
firstfruits of a harvest of many, many other
people. The work is not done; there are many more
out there who need the experience that you and I
are rejoicing in. They are not going to get hold
of it, however, unless we get stirred within our
hearts and take the Gospel to them.
John
saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, or in
the midst of The Church, having the everlasting
Gospel to preach to them who dwell on the earth.
Those who are dwelling on the earth are those who
are building on the sand, dwelling on earthly
things. Remember, these firstfruits have been
redeemed from the earth, showing you that they
have been delivered from earthly organizations and
from living on an earthly level.
Any church
you can join which was started by some man or
group of men will never get any higher that man
can exalt it. As far as church joining is
concerned, it doesn't lift you a bit more off the
earth than someone who doesn't go to church, who
never even considers a church. You are just as
earthly as they are. Brothers and Sisters, there
is NONE but Jesus Christ Who can change your
position and lift you up from the earth to a
higher plane of living. None other can do it. When
we leave Him out, my friends, we are still
dwelling on the earth.
So this Gospel was
to be preached to them who dwell on the earth and
to every nation. The Jews need it too. If the Jews
are ever saved, they will have to hear the
everlasting Gospel, believe it, and meet the
mandates of the Gospel, or they will never be
saved. So we have the everlasting Gospel to preach
to every nation, kindred, tongue and
people.
The
Gospel is Everlasting
Because...
Someone might
question, "Why is it called the everlasting
Gospel?" It is called the everlasting Gospel for
many different reasons. First of all, the
everlasting Gospel is an unchanging as Christ
Himself. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 24:35. It will not change; it will be just
as real in eternity as it is today. His Word is
forever settled in heaven: For ever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89.
So when we talk about everlasting, he is talking
about something that doesn't pass away. When he
talks about the everlasting Gospel, he is talking
about that which has been from the beginning. It
is the same Gospel that was preached to Abraham:
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed. Galatians 3:8. It is the
same Gospel that will be declared by God and His
true ministry clear through to the end of
time.
When we speak of it as being the
everlasting Gospel, we are talking about a Gospel
that Rome could not burn or destroy. We are
talking about a Gospel that Protestantism could
not destroy. Even though they killed the two
witnesses, the Word and the Spirit, and made merry
over them while they were dead, yet God
resurrected them and raised them up. They were
just as bold as they ever were before. As they
rise up, they are a witness against those who
killed them.
I tell you again,
Protestantism today, as a system, is the same old
Protestantism that killed the Word and the Spirit
back in the 11th chapter of Revelation. She will
still kill the Word and the Spirit just as much as
she ever did. Don't be deceived, my friends, by
the garb that Protestantism has put on today, or
by the false love that she tells you she has for
the truth. The real spirit of that second beast is
to kill the Word and the Spirit. Why? Because they
have their own vicars; they don't want the Word
and the Spirit to rule. So when we speak of the
everlasting Gospel, we are talking about something
that the beast or the second beast could not
destroy.
It is everlasting because it deals
in everlasting things. This everlasting Gospel
proclaims the mind of the everlasting God. Moses
prayed in Psalm 90:2, Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to
everlasting, thou art God. One of the first
things the everlasting Gospel talks about is an
everlasting God Who existed before this time
world. He still exists today! He is everywhere.
There is nowhere you can go to get away from God.
My friends, you can go to the other side of the
world, and He will be there (before you, because
He is already everywhere). There is nothing hidden
from Him. He knows the end from the beginning. The
light and the darkness are the same to
Him.
It is an everlasting Gospel because it
talks about the everlasting things of an
everlasting God. It is based on the everlasting
covenant. God had promised old Israel that the day
would come when He would make a new covenant and
it would be an everlasting covenant that He would
make through the New Testament.
It is
called the everlasting Gospel because it brings
everlasting experience and puts us in everlasting
habitation. Someone might ask, "Where is there an
everlasting habitation here on earth?" In THE
CHURCH. Brothers and Sisters, when you get in The
Church, death doesn't take you out. Thank God, you
have reached an everlasting habitation. The Church
reaches from the door, Jesus Christ, right here on
the earth, to the portals of Heaven.
Over
there are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs
and the millions of saints who died in the past.
They found an everlasting habitation. Abraham
...looked for a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:10.
What did he want? He wanted an everlasting
habitation. He died without finding it, but thank
God, you and I are come unto Mount Zion, the city
of the living, everlasting God. The door of The
Church is the door of Heaven. There is no way you
can get into Heaven without coming through the
door of The Church. So it is an everlasting
Gospel, and it brings everlasting
habitation.
Fear
God
What is the Gospel? In verse
7, this angel came, Saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of
his judgment is come: and worship him that made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains
of waters. In Romans 1:16 and 18, Paul said,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth...For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Here is a people who have
just come out of Babylon, and God had promised
that He would put judgment on those conditions
which were deceiving the minds of men and offering
false gods for the true God.
My friends,
when this Gospel began to sound out, the first
words this angel said were, "Fear God." It was
said with a LOUD voice. Why a loud voice? It had
to be lifted above the din of this world. If there
is any one portion of the Gospel that NEEDS to be
cried aloud, it is, "Fear God!" We are living in a
day and age, among a people, many times who claim
to be "Christian", who don't live a God-fearing
life.
One of the first thoughts in God's
mind in sending a Gospel was of bringing
redemption to man. Why did He send it? Because God
is God, and we, His creatures, need to learn to
respect and fear Him. So the first cry was to
"Fear God!" As much as it was needed back in 1880
or 1900, it is needed even moreso today.
It
was said with a loud voice because people are
rocked to sleep in carnal security. Even God's
good people are sleeping or slumbering today
(Matthew 25:1-13). The wise ones right to sleep,
along with the foolish. Why is there a loud voice
sounding out there? Because if we wait until we
hear THAT cry, it will be too late to wake up!
That FINAL cry, "The bridegroom cometh," is the
announcement: Whatever you have or have not
done--it is all settled now! Whoever sleeps in an
state unprepared to meet the bridegroom will
awaken on the OUTSIDE of a closed door, pounding
and pleading, "Please let me in." They will hear
the Master say, "I know you not!" Too late, too
late, too late. Sadly, sadly, sadly, so many are
being TAKEN IN by "theories of second
chance"--they are LIES from the pits of hell to
deceive you into waiting too long to receive
salvation, to make things right with
God!
The virgins sleeping did not mean they
were sitting in a corner snoring, with their feet
propped up and their false teeth in their pockets.
This, too, is a SPIRITUAL lesson. When it says
that they were asleep, it means that they were not
awake--aware. They were not awake/aware to what?
To the fear of God! We are not awake to the fear
of God as we ought to be. If you get some
old-fashioned fear of God, you will be more
punctual in getting to church. You will be more
vigilant to witness to those you interact with
EVERY day. You will clean up your life, your
speech, your attitude. You will change your mind
about hanging on to those old habits, those old
friends who keep you defeated and disillusioned
about the necessity of completely selling out to
God!
We have little, if any, regard for the
light handed, careless disregard we keep for the
things of God. Such as that simple thing of
dragging in to church just "whenever" we get
there. Why don't you try dragging in a half hour
late to your job every day next week? "Oh, I am
afraid the boss would get after me." Well, let me
tell you, you have MORE to fear from God and the
lukewarm, don't care, lazy idleness in your way of
conducting your life for Him, than you ever have
to fear from your boss!
Let's get right
down to where we need to be with this. You see,
God does NOT let everybody put out the Gospel.
This angel appeared having the everlasting
Gospel. You must HAVE it before God will ever let
you preach it, and if you don't LIVE it, you DON'T
have it!
I am telling you, we need an
old-fashioned revival of fearing God. This carnal
security hash so many in our world rocked to
sleep; they are not awake to their own condition.
It is so. You can talk to people, and you can't
even get them disturbed about their own soul! Some
of them, even after the doctor tells them they
have only a few days to live, are not disturbed
about their soul. They are lost and don't even
want to give it a thought. What's the trouble?
They are rocked to sleep in carnal
security.
The spirit of this old world has
benumbed them until they can't get any real
feeling about what's going on, and that is the
same spirit that can get hold of us if we get
sloppy or careless in our attitude toward God, in
our living, or in our deportment. Start from
Genesis and study the thought of the fear of God.
Men who had the fear of God on their lives lived
pretty straight. They did not do a lot of things
other people did. Why? They had the fear of God on
them!
A Door of
Utterance
My friends,
this angel came with a loud voice. I am not
talking about squalling loudly. Listen: the thing
that makes your voice loud is when God anoints,
when God gives you the message. Just hollaring
loudly will not wake up someone who is asleep
spiritually. Just hollaring loudly will not wake
him up a bit more than it will wake up a dead
person in the graveyard.
If they are ever
awakened, it is going to take a loud voice as the
Bible talks about it, one that is anointed with
God's Spirit. God is still able to cause our voice
to have more effect if we are willing to live as
God wants us to live. My friends, it will ring and
roar in the corridors of mankind's conscience and
bring an awakening into his life, no matter how
slumbering he is.
This angel cried out with
a loud voice above all the sleepiness and carnal
security, and above the cry of "Peace and Safety"
of false prophets. This is what stirs me to no
end. There would be a greater awakening in our
nation if the nominal ministry would stop patting
people to sleep. A man can hear a message on the
radio, pick up a tract and read it, or attend a
service somewhere where the Gospel is laid out,
and his heart gets stirred. There is an awakening
which begins in his life, but when he goes back to
where he is used to worshipping, the preacher will
put him back to sleep.
SO MANY TIMES, the
preachers of this day and age get up and say,
"Don't be alarmed by people talking about
holiness. I sin, you sin, everybody sins. Nobody
lives holy. If God marks us according to our sins,
we would all be lost." Well, Hello! God DOES mark
us according to our sins! And it IS COMPLETELY
POSSIBLE to live a HOLY LIFE BEFORE GOD, even in
THIS day and age! You had BETTER be worried about
sin! Yet as the souls of these folks hear the lies
coming from the pulpits today, their soul, which
had been stirred, is lulled back to
sleep.
So this messenger cam crying out
with a loud voice, above the cry of "Peace and
safety" of false prophets. This has been my
burden: "My God, give me a voice to speak!" Paul
called it a "door of utterance": Withal praying
also for us, that God would open unto us a door of
utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for
which I am also in bonds. Colossians 4:3. That
is the same as saying, "Give me a voice to speak."
I don't mean a voice that is free from harshness,
or hoarseness, my friends. We are talking about an
amplification that only the Holy Spirit can bring
which can break through upon people and bring the
abrupt awakening that is so desperately needed in
our lives today!
If they needed to be loud
back then, it needs to be EXTRA loud today. Why?
We are on the precipice of eternity. Those
preachers could not stand and say that Jesus may
come tomorrow, because every one of them who had
understanding of prophecy knew there was more that
had to be fulfilled. Who is there who has
understanding of prophecy that can say there is
much yet to be fulfilled, and look for years and
years and years? Only God knows the hour when it
will come, but I am saying that you and I are the
closest to the brink of eternity as any people
have ever been in the history of the world.
Eternity is right out there. I say, my friends, we
are certainly at a time when the Word of God, the
everlasting Gospel, needs to be sounded out loudly
and clearly as never
before.
Loving,
Reverential Fear
What was the
message? Fear God, give honor and glory to Him,
and worship Him. Why did people need to hear such
a message? My friends, they had been doing
creature worship. Romans the first chapter calls
this creature worship: worshipping a man who
claims he is God. Creature worship: it is going on
in America--it is going on in our city! Oh, how
the message needs to sound out: "Quit worshipping
the creature. Worship the Creator!"
Natural
religion is not sufficient to keep up the fear of
God, or to secure for God glory from men. No
national knowledge, no knowledge we can gain, can
put man beyond the need of this experience I am
preaching about. My friends, no philosophy or
anything that men or devils can come up with will
ever substitute the need of the everlasting Gospel
finding its place in your heart and
life.
There are probably people reading
this message who would say, "Brother Wilson, I am
God-fearing. I live in America." Psalm 111:10
says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom... We have not begun to be wise until
we get to the place where we truly fear the Lord.
However, this kind of fear is NOT the paranonia
that most people associate with the word "fear".
"Fear of the Lord" is reverential fear--NOT being
"scared" of Him, but respecting, holding Him in
reverence. Reverential fear--where you stand in
awe, do obeisance to Him, and live humbly before
Him. It is not a fear that you are scared He will
kill you, but a fear where you are afraid you will
hurt or grieve Him.
This is talking about
the real fear that the Gospel brings. The Gospel
will bring you an experience of salvation where
you will have a reverential fear: because you love
God, you are fearful that you will grieve Him, or
hurt Him, or fail Him. It is just the same if
really love your companion: there is a fear that
comes with love if it is real, true love. Because
you love that person, the only fear you have is
that you will hurt or grieve, or cause them to be
hurt or grieved.
I bring this up because
all some people can think about in the "fear of
God" is just being afraid that God will strike
them dead, so they go right on and get bold in
their sins because of God's mercy. Brothers and
Sisters, anyone who has cursed God and dared God
to destroy him is the biggest fool to ever live.
Psalm 14:1 says, The fool hath said in his
heart, There is no God... There is NO bigger
fool than that.
Now, I am not talking about
that fear where you are scared God will strike you
dead with lightning or let your house burn down
while you are asleep in it. I am talking about an
experience of salvation where you come in
old-fashioned, old-time repentance and really turn
your life over to God. He will clean you up from
sin, make a new creature out of you, and there
will be a fear over your life where you will fear
God--with a reverential fear. You would rather
hurt yourself, or anyone else, than grieve God.
Too many do not live under that fear. Here is the
scale that measures and weighs
us.
Gospel
Perversion
It is the
Gospel that retrieves for God His glory. Nothing
but the Gospel preached and believed will do this.
Why has the fear of God been lifted off the people
as it has? It has been lifted off the people by
false religion. It is lifted off the people by
anyone who claims to be the Church of God (Body of
Christ), but does NOT live a God-fearing life. The
world in sin and corruption does not lift the fear
of God off the world. Who lifts it off? False
religion and people who claim to be Christians,
but who live careless lives.
Paul, even
back in his day, marvelled that people were so
soon removed from the grace of God and from the
Gospel that had saved them to another gospel. He
said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel: Which is not another; but there be
some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6,7. There is
ONLY ONE Gospel, but men have PERVERTED that
Gospel by adding to it, taking away, and doctoring
it up to SUIT THEMSELVES!
You can read in
the newspaper about sex perverts, and how terrible
are their actions! It will make cold chills go up
and down your spine, but there are perverts worse
than them: Gospel perverts. I will say it again:
the worst perverts on the face of this earth are
Gospel perverts. Why? All the other perverts, if
they will hear and obey the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, can be saved, but when men pervert the
Gospel, there is NO hope of people being
saved.
That is why salvation is out on such
a limb. Who lifted the fear of God? I say false
religion--popes and priests sitting in the temple
of God, saying they are God, but living lives of
devils. It has been lifted off by preachers who
claim to be God-called, but are failing to preach
and live the Gospel.
Jeremiah, in Jeremiah
6:13, prophesied of this condition: For from
the least of them even unto the greatest of them
every one is given to covetousness; and from the
prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
falsely. Coveteousness took hold of them, and
they coveted wealth, silver, and
gold.
Don't tell me that this did not begin
in Roman Catholicism. What were indulgences
started for? Why did they start charging for
forgiveness of sin? They coveted silver and gold.
It comes right over into the realms of religion.
Too many prechers are guided by their salary. More
are afraid of losing their pensions than fearing
God.
"Peace,
Peace"
Jeremiah also
said, They have healed also the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace,
peace; when there is no peace. Crying "Peace,
Peace," when there is NO PEACE! This is a picture
of false religion telling people to just "have
peace" and "no worries". There can be no peace
with God or peace within your soul until you get
born again, get cleaned up, and measure up to the
teachings of the everlasting Gospel.
There
is NO peace without being clear with God and clear
with your fellowmen. Why? God made you with a
conscience. Preachers can cry, "Peace," all they
want to, but there will be NO peace! God set the
conditions for peace, and there will be NO peace
short of meeting HIS conditions!
Someone
might say, "That is terrible for preachers to be
so covetous that they would deal so falsely."
Well, Revelation tells us that Babylon's merchants
deal in gold and silver, precious stones, and the
souls of men (Revelation 18:11-13). The souls of
men are thrown right in with paychecks and gold
and silver. They will buy and sell your just as
they do gold and silver. Your soul does not mean a
bit more to them, and not as much as some
money!
It is sad to think that the prophet
and priest deal falsely, but the saddest part is
that the people WANT IT THAT WAY! Jeremiah 6:16
tells us, Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the
ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is
the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find
rest for your souls. But they said, We will not
walk therein. Some people would RATHER have it
FALSE! They would rather have preachers and
teachers crying, "Peace, Peace," when there is no
peace!
"Stand ye in the ways and see..."
See what? See if what you call your salvation
lines up with God's requirements. We are told in
Proverbs 14:12, There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. Matthew 7:13,14 warns, Enter ye
in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat: Because strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find
it.
Is there anything about your
religion that can really bring the life of Christ
to you? If it cannot, my friends, it is not worth
a dime and let's face it, a dime doesn't get much
at all any more, does it? There is so much natural
religion today that people have seemingly
forgotten about the
supernatural.
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