We're living a life (in Christ) that the natural man can't live, and preaching a Gospel that the natural man cannot preach. Why? This Gospel will kill men. If we will only submit to be killed He will give us a new life. Again let me repeat: If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. In the early morning church, it was a wonderful thing---a church made up of new creatures, filled with the power of God. But the pristine glory of the morning church was short lived. In AD 33, God gave the power and she went forth, but by AD 54 or somewhere about that time, Paul said: "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." In AD 66, 33 years after Pentecost, Jude said that men had already crept in. Men. Men cannot operate in the place of the Holy Spirit and rule or run the church.
When the Bible is talking about men it is speaking of carnal (living after the flesh) men. Paul said: Ye walk as men because ye are carnal. When men get rid of carnality (stop living after the flesh and start living after the spirit) they will not walk as men, but go forth with glory and fire. What was the symbol of that glory? Smoke! Smoke is a symbol of glory. Isaiah 6:4, "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Revelation 15:8, "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power, and no man was able to enter into the temple, (spiritual temple, the Church) till the seven plagues (messages of judgment) of the seven angels (messengers) were fulfilled." So, smoke went out of their mouth. Fire and brimstone preaching went out of their mouth anointed with the Holy Ghost. It killed men! It will kill men today! That's why the ministers of the false and deceptive churches tell their members to stay away. They say, "Don't go around there, for they'll kill you." Well, God put a "Gospel gun" in our hand and sent us out as a hunter. He sent us to hunt them out of the rocks where they're hiding and shoot them. We have to have dead men before God can put new life into them.
Now, Rev. 9:18, "By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. (19) For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails." Do we mean that they have two powers? What power do they have in their tails? In the Revelation, the tail always signifies the end of anything. In the early days of the reformation, their power was in their mouths. But it's said that they had another power in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents. Well, we're reading the pedigree of people who claim to be people of God. But here we go---right back to the old dragon, "and had heads". We only have one head and that is Christ. We're the body and Christ is the head. Paul prophesied of this day. 2 Timothy 3:1, "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, (2) For men shall be lovers of their own selves, (4) Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God."
Col. 2:18-19. "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, (19) And holding the Head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." What men do they mean to beware of? Men, who have not been born again, but are having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility. You don't volunteer for the ministry. There's a special call of God for men to go out into the harvest fields and reap. These are men, who haven't been born again, and they're still men of the world and will get the saints in trouble, if they heed their counsel and let themselves be beguiled by such ministers. God has warned: I will cast you into a bed where they commit fornication. Whenever a minister of the Gospel fails to hold the Head (Christ) and digresses from the truth, he refuses to go along with the people of God that are walking in God's truth and goes over and adds a little too. He has to either add to or take away, to start another body.
People say there's nothing in a name. Why there's everything in a name. That's why we have so many. The name is what tells us apart. So, here's a man who goes out and lets everybody know that he's Separate. He splintered off from that first bunch and gives his group another name. When he gets another name and takes another creed besides God 's Word, he commits spiritual fornication with the old mother, the false church, and there will be (spiritual) harlots born. This hits hard and we' ve taken many blows for it, but we don't read it out of a man's book. We'd be shaky if we did, but God showed it to us and we'll stand by it at any cost.
There's power over here at the latter end and it's like the power of serpents or the old dragon. It's a deceptive thing and if we go along and take in the pleasures of the world, and load up with worldly things we once threw away, and we're patted on the back and feel we're all right---that's the influence of the tail. Then, if we get around where the true Gospel of Christ is preached, and the Spirit of God will tell us that we once had greater victory than we have now and walked in holiness and Christlikeness, then, we go back to that old false set up and we're accepted and patted on the back, we'll bind our soul. And after while, we'll be deceived into believing it! When we get to the place where we believe we're all right and are so entrenched in it, that we can't be shaken out of it, we're pretty much hopeless!
Revelation 9:19, "For their power is in their mouth and in their tail: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt." Now, after all this talk of killing and the message that falls like a plague on some people, is nothing but a call for true repentance. We read: "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues".what plagues? The Word of God preached without fear or favor. Does the Word of God have plagues? The 18th chapter of the Revelation says: "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18: 4.
People who don't want to live the true Christian life, are plagued by hearing the truth preached. When the first vial was poured out, it fell as a grievous sore on those that worshipped the beast or his image. What was this? Nothing more than truth preached. Then why should it fall as a grievous sore? When people are not living by the true Word of God and you preach the whole truth, it falls as a grievous sore. But how do we know this is true? We read in the Book of 1 John: This is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. If we really do have the love of God in our hearts, we want to keep His commandments.
As for those who don't keep His commandments and yet profess to be good Christians, when they hear the truth and the call to repent and live holy lives, the Word falls like an annoyance or a plague to torment them. When Israel was in Egypt and the plagues fell that were so terrible upon the Egyptians, they didn't fall upon the Israelites at all. If the Word of God, coming straight from the Bible, is a plague to us, we're not a born again child of God---not an Israelite indeed. When the plague of darkness came, the Israelites had light. Psalm 91:9-10 "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is thy refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."
God's people don't get plagued, by hearing the precious truth of His Holy Word. We'll probably have fewer people to stand by when it's preached, but we'll have more glory. Rev. 9:20, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the work of their hands." Rev. 9:20, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the work of their hands." Rev. 16:8, "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire." These were men who repented not. They took glory to themselves that belonged to God.
That's what God's stirred about. He's putting His truth out on them and it puts heat on many. What does He want you and I to do? Repent, and give glory to God.
CHRIST'S BLOOD IS CRYING OUT
In these last days, we've elevated men so much, that in many places, the pastor will take fifteen minutes, to introduce the preacher, and the evangelist, then gets up and confirms what the pastor said about him, and when they get through with all this "glorifying of man", there's little time left to preach the Gospel. Small wonder why so few souls are reached today. The same thing that took place in Babylon, is taking place among us. While the two witnesses (the Word and the Spirit) lay dead in the streets, the people gave gifts to one another. In the true Church, God gives the gifts---people don't give gifts to one another.
Ephesians 4:8, "Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on High, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." Verse 11, "And He gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers." But notice.[while the witnesses (the Word and the Spirit) lay dead] they gave gifts to one another. But how did they give gifts to one another? The gift giver lay dead in the street. Graduation time for the students of the ministry has come. A brother is called to the platform. This fellow has earned a B. A. ---and they honor him. Can't anybody bestow that gift on him unless he's a "step higher". I'm a step higher so I now bestow the gift on you of D. D. People are going head over heels to get Master's degrees and we have only one master in the Church of God, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Now, what are men worshipping today? Men are worshipping the work of their own hands. Not long ago I read in a church paper, how to quit the use of tobacco: "The first week, you say, "I can quit". The second week, you say, "I'm going to quit". And after the third week, watch you soul cleanse itself from the habit." Not a thing said about the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing from sin. This is why the blood is crying out again. This is why there had to be a seventh seal and sounding of the Seventh Trumpet!
The blood is crying out. What are we going to do about the blood? We have people here, trying to free themselves from sin; they're trying to live a good moral life, but the blood is crying out. There are two things that man cannot handle, they are: the door and the Book. If the Church will not accept the truth "here", God will let it break out somewhere else. When folks will not take the truth, God just drops them. The Word says that they repented not to give God the glory. But men don't want to humble themselves and give God the glory. They don't want to drop the work of their own hands.
Man's program goes on: building great buildings and putting on great programs of man's planning. He wrote to the Church of the Laodiceans. Rev. 3:17, "Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing." What kind of goods? The wrong kind---the kind that perish. What's the right kind? The kingdom is as a man who took a journey to a far country and delivered unto his servants his goods---His Spirit! That's what He wants us to have. But they worship the work of their hands. Get a program going and get the people all enthused and push it over. We've talked to men we love, since this meeting started. They are blinded, by the very spirit of the work of their own hands. There's a complaint that we're not trying to make unity. One brother said to us, that if we would just look about us, we could see how the churches are preparing to merge and get together, and we're supposed to get together with the holiness groups. I replied, "What's the matter, man? We're calling them out. The Church of God will never merge with any sectarian body." "Come out of her, my people, and be not partakers of her sins." He said, "Do you want everybody to leave their church and come to your church?" No, we have no church! We want everybody to leave that which isn't truth and come to truth!
Our message comes from the heart. We're not throwing dirt when we mention these things. God is calling His people to take a stand for truth as the early church did. The awful compromise that has come about is spoken of in Gospel, Prophecy and the Revelation. In the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew, they asked Jesus: "When will these things come to pass? (that is, the literal destruction of Jerusalem), the sign of thy coming and the sign of the end?" He answered their third question first. He said that kingdoms would arise. What kingdoms? The old beast kingdoms. There would be turmoil among nations. The old Israel and the new Israel. The nations in warfare. Then He said there would be a falling away and they would betray one another; following, would be the false prophet, or Protestantism, and following that, iniquity would abound and the love of many would wax cold. There's your lukewarmness. And what is the sign of the end? "And this Gospel will be preached to all the world for a witness and then shall the end come." The sign of the end, is the Gospel preached to the world for a witness. Not everybody is going to receive it. Even at funerals, the undertakers say, "Just a short sermon." When I was a first sergeant in the army, one of my duties was to see that the articles of war were read every thirty days. We didn't want to hear them because they were dry. So, we got the man who could read them the fastest to go through it. It would take about 22 minutes to run through muttering and sputtering. Then if a soldier got into trouble, the officer would ask when he had heard the articles of war, last. Maybe seven days ago. They would say, "You heard them seven days ago---you ought to know better." The Gospel is being preached for a witness. When you come up before God and say you didn't know, the Word and the Spirit will witness against you. It's preached for a witness.
THE SOUNDING OF THE 7TH TRUMPET
"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." Revelation 10:7 [ The End ]