BACKSLIDERS BEWARE!--The Hotel Marshal Dream! DFO 1045 29/6/81
--By Father David
1. WE WERE IN THIS SMALL SHOP, it looked like a little shop, very empty, that we were getting ready to furnish for some type of sales. It was a little store shop of some kind, although it was quite empty at the time. It seemed we were putting up curtain rods, apparently, on which to hang these long beautiful drapes across the shop windows, & I lacked a part that I needed, a small part for the end of the curtain rod.
2. SO WE STOPPED WORKING ON THE CURTAINS FOR A LITTLE WHILE & you & I went in the back room & began to make love! I got big & hard & decided I could fuck you, so I did!--And was enjoying it very much when suddenly we were interrupted by the doorbell or a knock at the door, somebody at the street door of the shop.
3. I WAS A LITTLE AGGRAVATED & UPSET THAT WE WERE INTERRUPTED right in the middle of our real good fuck, but we stopped & we went & answered the door & here was this gentleman friend of ours. I guess I must have shown that I was a little upset at being bothered, because he apologised profusely & said he was sorry but he had something to tell us, I don't know what it was--it apparently wasn't important enough that I remember it.
4. SO HAVING BEEN INTERRUPTED I DECIDED, FORGET IT, I'll go out now to some other shops & try to find that piece of curtain rod that I need, that end piece, kind of a little extension piece. It's a real cheap thing, but that sort of thing usually is hard to find by itself; they usually come in sets along with the curtain rods.
5. SO I WENT INTO THIS ONE SHOP & I WAS IN THE BACK OF THE SHOP RUMMAGING AROUND THROUGH THEIR STUFF & I found this set that had the very little end piece that I needed. I never do such a thing & I haven't done such a thing since I was a kid, & why I should have done it in this dream I don't know, to risk life & safety & liberty & limb & whatnot for something so cheap, I don't know!
6. BUT I DECIDED, "WELL, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO WANT TO BREAK THIS SET, they're going to insist on selling me the whole set to get this one little tiny piece, so I'm just going to slip it in my pocket & they'll never know the difference!" So I did & I walked out & walked down the street feeling guilty & worrying, "I wonder if they'll miss it or check their set to see if I took the piece out of it," & I was kind of fearful of them maybe chasing me down the street or something & feeling guilty.
7. IT REALLY ISN'T WORTH IT TO RISK YOUR LIFE & LIBERTY FOR A LITTLE THING LIKE THAT! And why it happened in the dream, I don't know, but I did it in the dream. In fact, that sort of thing keeps you living in constant fear that you're going to be found out, & it's hardly worth the trouble. It's like the saying that "the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one!"
8. THE THIEF, ROBBER, CRIMINAL & FRAUDULENT CHARACTER IS ALWAYS WORRYING night & day that he's going to be discovered & apprehended! He lives in constant fear, & this is a state of torture & torment which I don't care to go through for anything inconsequential.
9. WE SOMETIMES WORRY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OURSELVES & OUR OWN PERSONAL SAFETY regarding our enemies because of our work, but I certainly wouldn't incur such fearfulness & fearful living just for a little piece of shoplifting! But for some reason or other in the dream I did, & I walked on down the street then.
10. I EVIDENTLY HAD A BICYCLE SOMEWHERE PARKED & I went & got my bicycle & decided I was going to somewhere, I think I had some more shopping to do or something, when it suddenly began to rain & along came this same friend, very nice fellow, & offered me a lift. I don't know how I got rid of my bicycle, maybe I just parked it there & locked it up or something.
11. AS I WAS ABOUT TO GET INTO HIS CAR HE OFFERED ME HIS KEYS & SAID, "HERE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRIVE?" He apparently knew that I don't usually like to ride with someone else driving, I like to drive myself. I don't trust very many people's driving & usually prefer my own for safety's sake. I know I'm praying & I know I'm following the Lord & listening to Him & I usually feel my own driving is safer than anybody else's. It's rarely I let another driver drive me unless I have to, such as a taxi or a bus driver.
12. SO WE CLIMBED IN, & AS HE SAT BESIDE ME THERE IN THE CAR--I was in the driver's seat & he was in the front passenger's seat--he took another key out of his pocket & held it in his palm & showed it to me. I don't know where I was planning to go at the moment, but apparently I hadn't planned to go there, because he just held out this key in the palm of his hand & he showed it to me.
13. IT WAS A HOTEL KEY WITH ONE OF THOSE BIG BLACK SORT OF DIAMOND-SHAPED TAGS THAT SAID VERY CLEARLY IN WHITE LETTERS: "THE HOTEL MARSHAL," just as clear as anything! That's one of the clear things I remembered about the dream, & that was one reason I hesitated not to tell it or record it, because that was so clear & some of the other things were so clear. I thought it might have some meaning or message for us or somebody, because I seldom dream such dreams unless there's some reason.
14. AND AS HE SHOWED ME THE KEY HE SAID, "I HAVE A HOTEL ROOM DOWNTOWN," & I seemed to get the message that he meant that he was sorry. Somehow he realised he'd interrupted our sex session in the back of the shop & he was offering to let us go downtown & use his hotel room.
15. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU GOT IN THE BACK SEAT, we must have gone by & picked you up, but the next thing I knew it was really pouring down rain & we were in his car parked at this time in this parking lot. I tried to get it started but it was kind of an old car & a little slow starting & it was pouring down rain outside. You know when it's cold & wet it's difficult to get a car started sometimes, & I was so relieved when it finally caught & vroomed & sputtered & roared & got going!
16. THEN I TRIED TO PULL OUT OF THIS DIRT PARKING LOT & FOUND OUT THAT I WAS SKIDDING & ALMOST STUCK! But all of a sudden along came the police & it seemed they were helping a whole lot of other people with a police wrecker to get out of the mud of this parking lot, & they came along to us & started giving us a push, & they pushed us out of the lot.
17. IT WAS A SORT OF A DIRT ROAD THAT LED FROM THE LOT clear up about a one-block hill dirt road to the highway or a paved main street, & so the wrecker just kept pushing us right on up to the top of the hill until we could get out of the mud & onto the pavement, & we were very thankful.
18. AT FIRST WHEN I SAW THE COPS COMING I WAS A LITTLE BIT WORRIED CONSIDERING WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED, but then I saw they were just there to help, God bless'm! I'm always thankful for the police & their protection & their help. The only people who worry about the police are usually the people who have done something wrong.
19. OR OF COURSE IF YOU'RE AS WELL KNOWN AS I AM & HAVE AS MANY ENEMIES AS I HAVE, you're a little concerned about keeping your identity unknown to anybody, sometimes even the police, since your enemies may have sicced them on you for some excuse or another & they might even be looking for you. So I try to behave & stay out of their way.
20. SO ANYHOW, WE GOT UP THERE ONTO THE PAVEMENT OF THE MAIN STREET, & began driving down toward downtown where the hotel was. I was going over in my mind thinking, "Well, this friend of ours here apparently wants a little sex session together & for Maria to do a little FFing perhaps or have a little threesome!"--Which we've occasionally had with two of us men enjoying her, one petting & caressing & kissing her while the other is fucking her & she's jacking off or sucking off the other one!
21. I THOUGHT, "WELL, HE WASN'T NECESSARILY ALL TOGETHER UNSELFISH to want to pick me up from my bicycle in the rain, but that he was sort of hinting that he'd like to not only let us use his room but he'd also like to participate!"--And that's the last I remember--we were on our way toward town.
22. IT WAS A FAIRLY LARGE CITY, RATHER BIG & MOSTLY FLAT LIKE DETROIT. It reminded me a lot of Detroit, Michigan, & what I'd be doing there, I don't know! There was only just one little slight incline from that dirt parking lot up this little dirt road onto the pavement, but most of it was rather flat or slightly rolling.
23. OUR LITTLE SHOP WAS SORT OF OUT IN THE OUTLYING DISTRICT OR SUBURB in a little shopping area with a few other little shops like they have in the outlying suburbs of many big cities. But now we were driving toward the center of town where apparently the Hotel Marshal was located.
24. AND ABOUT THAT TIME I WOKE UP OR WAS AWAKENED EVIDENTLY BY CONSIDERABLE NOISE about our place of abode. For some reason there was quite a bit of noise this morning & that woke me up. So I lay there thinking about the dream & wondering why in the World I should have such a peculiar dream, & I still don't see any meaning to it unless it was a lesson to warn you not to try any shoplifting, it just isn't worth it.
25. YOU PAY A BIG PRICE IF YOU GET CAUGHT & YOU PAY THE PRICE OF FEAR & APPREHENSION IF YOU DON'T! And besides, it's not love & it's unscriptural & it's against the law & it's not consideration for others & it's stealing, it's theft, it's shoplifting, it just isn't right & you shouldn't do it! It's very naughty of any of you that ever have & if you've ever considered it.
26. I KNOW THAT WE'VE HAD ONE OR TWO OF OUR PEOPLE WHO CONFESSED TO IT & we've severely reprimanded them for it. [DELETED] [EDITED: "W"]e just scolded them & told them to never let it happen again.
27. ONE OF THEM, BY THE WAY WAS A VERY CHURCHY GIRL who had had a great deal of church background, reared in the church. She'd had also quite a bit of experience it witchcraft & black magic & the occult after her years in church & before she came to us. In fact, she was at one time our cook in our kitchen--this has been years ago now.
28. ONCE AT CHRISTMAS TIME, WHICH SHE LATER CONFESSED, SHE HAD GONE OUT & SEEN ONE OF THESE MULTIPLE JACKKNIVES that the Swiss make that contain a whole lot of different tools, & she remembered that her little brother had always wanted one of those. She said that before she'd been quite a kleptomaniac & accustomed to shoplifting & it just seemed to come automatic to her just to take it & slip it in her purse when nobody was looking, bring it home, & then she packaged it & mailed it off to her little brother for Christmas.
29. AND LATER, I'VE FORGOTTEN ON WHAT OCCASION IT WAS, IT APPARENTLY GOT EATING ON HER CONSCIENCE & she began to realise we were just not that kind of people, & sometime or other when we were dealing with her on something she confessed that she had done that shoplifting. I reprimanded her very seriously & made her promise she'd never do it again or we couldn't have her working with us.
30. WELL, SHE WAS A VERY STRANGE CHARACTER & I used to say that some of the concoctions she made in our kitchen were more like a witch's brew! I can remember one time when I was in the Spirit thinking about her & talking about her, & Maria later told me & recorded that I had said we had a witch in the kitchen & that there was witchcraft in the kitchen!
31. AND I MUST ADMIT SOME OF THOSE DISHES SHE SERVED US WERE SOME OF THE STRANGEST COMBINATIONS I think we had ever eaten! She used all kinds of spices & herbs & all kinds of peculiar things, & who knows what the Devil was up to to maybe try to upset me & my tender stomach!
32. AND EVENTUALLY, BY THE WAY, WHEN WE LEFT THAT PARTICULAR LOCATION, WE LEFT HER BEHIND. I didn't particularly care for her cooking & the weird feeling I had about her, so we just simply left her behind, & we understood later that she backslid from that Home & went back to the U.S. & is now more or less bitterly against us for some reason.
33. IT SEEMS LIKE FOLKS WHO GO BACK FROM OUR HOME, who have actually lived with us & have tasted the good things, the glory of God & the power of the Spirit as verses in Hebrews 6 & 10 describe, that if these should go back, if these turn back, "it shall be impossible to renew them to repentance" the Scripture says. (He.6:4-6; 10:26,27.)
34. I TOLD YOU THE STORY OF HOW WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY A CASHIER GAVE ME FIVE CENTS TOO MUCH CHANGE, & when I got out of the store & down the street & discovered she'd given me this five cent piece more than she should have, called a nickel in the U.S.A., I immediately rushed back to the store & gave it back to her!
35. SHE WAS SO SURPRISED THAT I, A LITTLE BOY, WOULD RETURN THAT NICKEL & BE SO HONEST, she was just amazed & she almost gave it to me! She said, "Why would you bring it back? It was only a nickel, & after all, I would have never missed it!" I said, "You wouldn't want me to lose my soul for a nickel, would you?" She was rather astonished at that statement & I went self-righteously along on my way!
36. OF COURSE, SINCE THEN I LEARNED THAT I WOULDN'T LOSE MY SOUL FOR BEING A LITTLE DISHONEST, but I could certainly lose my blessings or some of my rewards & not be blessed by the Lord, in fat, even punished by the Lord, judged by the Lord & chastised by the Lord for any kind of misconduct or misdeed or any breaking of His Law of Love, dishonesty, such as shoplifting, etc.
37. I HAVE A VERY HEALTHY FEAR OF THE LORD AS A GOOD FAITHFUL FIRM FATHER, that if I do anything I shouldn't, He is going to rebuke me & reprove me & try to get me to repent! And if I won't, that He will definitely chastise & chasten & spank me for my sins & for my disobediences & for my lack of love, or even a tiny little thing like not returning five cents over-change.
38. I MUST ADMIT THAT I'VE HAD MORE EXPERIENCE, particularly in the United States in big cities, with cashiers, there who were shortchange artists! Rather than giving you more change than you were supposed to have, they could very quickly shortchange you & very cleverly.
39. I'VE SEVERAL TIMES HAD CASHIERS GIVE ME BACK CHANGE FOR A $5 BILL WHEN I'D JUST GIVEN THEM A TEN, & then after they'd pretend, "Oh, you gave me a ten? Oh, I didn't realise it, I forgot!"--& quickly give me the full change because they new they might get in trouble & I might report'em. But obviously for some of them it was quite a common game with them to give you shortchange for a bill.
40. ONE OF THE COMMONEST TRICKS IS TO HAND THEM A LARGE BILL & THEY GIVE YOU BACK CHANGE FOR A SMALL BILL, & I have on occasion realised too late afterward. For example, once I was going into a cinema & I gave the lady a ten-dollar bill & she gave me back change for $5! Well, this meant several bills & some change, because in those days a cinema only cost less than a dollar. I didn't notice that one of the bills was not a five & the other ones to make change for an entire $10 bill until I got inside & sat down in my seat & was putting the money back in my purse & I realised I had only gotten back change for a five instead of a ten!
41. WELL, THAT WAS TOO LATE, OF COURSE, TO PROVE IT, & although I went back to the cashier & argued with her, she swore up & down I had not given her a ten but a five. So I learned my lesson on that one & watched my change very carefully after that! And the next time I gave somebody a ten or a twenty I quickly spread out the money right on the counter before them & counted it to make sure I got the right change!
42. SEVERAL TIMES AFTER THAT I CAUGHT THEM SHORTCHANGING ME, but by immediately complaining to them sharply, or sweetly even, & spreading the bills out right on the spot in front of them so they can see they're caught red-handed & that's all they've given you back, they'll usually apologise & give you the rest. So watch those shortchange artists!
43. SO IT'S VERY SELDOM YOU ARE GIVEN MORE CHANGE THAN YOU DESERVE but it has happened a few times in my life & I have always restored the money. There was a time in my early years when I thought if I committed such a sin as even not returning a nickel that I might go to Hell for it!--Lose my soul for a nickel!
44. WELL, I KNOW BETTER THEN THAT NOW, I KNOW GOD'S SALVATION IS ETERNAL & even in spite of our sins & shortcomings & misdeeds & crimes, whatever they may be, that the blood of Jesus Christ covers all our sins, both past, present & future, & He can even forgive the worst of all sins. Well, almost the worst of all sins, except the worst of all which is not to believe in Him, & that is a sin He cannot forgive, He says, "neither in this World nor in the World to come." (Mt.12:31,32.)
45. SO OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME SINS WHICH ARE GOING TO BE FORGIVEN IN THIS WORLD BY THE LORD, & there are going to be other sins which are going to be forgiven in the World to come, which we've tried to explain to you before. That even though not everybody will be saved here and now, eventually the Lord is going to teach all of them to know Him & to believe in Him & receive Him.
46. BY HIS GOODNESS & HIS MERCY & HIS LOVE THEY'RE GOING TO BE TAUGHT TO BELIEVE IN HIM & love Him & obey Him in the World to come. They will not have access to the Holy City, New Jerusalem, Space City come down from God to man, only the saved will walk therein, but they will be able to live out on the Earth beyond, a New Earth, beautiful like the Garden of Eden, free of the Curse, & there learn how much God loves them & how thankful they should be that they are not actually in the fires of Hell!
47. SOME SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH VERY SEVERE HARSH PUNISHMENT, as we've said before, punishment like the fires of Hell itself! Exactly what that means literally we do not know, but it sounds pretty literal in Luke 16, the story about the rich man Dives being in torment in the flames! There may be some who are going to be wicked enough who really deserve that kind of Hell, although I do not believe that even that kind of Hell is going to be eternal or everlasting. The actual word there, as I've explained to you before, means "age-lasting."
48. EVEN TO SPEND ANY TIME IN SUCH A HELL WOULD BE A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE, but that's apparently what some people will need to teach them to be good & to obey God & to be repentant for their sins & do pay, in a sense, some of the penalty for their own sins since they refused the payment of Jesus Christ's blood on Calvary. Some will be beaten with many stripes & some with few stripes, the Bible says, & we've gone over this with you before. (Lk.12:47,48.)
49. BUT EVEN THOUGH SAVED, IF YOU DO THINGS THAT ARE WRONG, GOD IS DOING TO PUNISH YOU FOR IT if you don't repent & make it right. He's going to chasten & chastise you & spank you, & if you persist in your sins He's going to beat you with many stripes to try to persuade you to repent & have a metanoia, a turn around, & go the right way.
50. AND OF COURSE IF YOU PERSIST IN SUCH SINS EVEN THOUGH SAVED, if you persist in such sins even to your death, the Lord is going to see that you get your punishment here & now, Hell here, & even here-after you're going to receive some retribution for those sins & misdeeds, unbelief, disobedience, rebelliousness, hurting others, causing others to stumble, leading others astray, whatever your sin may be--judgement here & now!
51. AND OF COURSE BACKSLIDING IS ONE OF THE WORST because it almost always is a bad testimony to others & even sometimes leads others backward also & others astray & is just as bad an influence, as bad a witness as living for the Lord is a good witness. So maybe the Lord intended to bring this dream to be a lesson to you regarding even a little thing that you may think is innocent & not very important such as a little shoplifting such as a candy bar or something like that.
52. WE'VE HEARD THAT ONE OF THE CHILDREN IN THE FAMILY HAD SNITCHED A CANDY BAR off the supermarket shelf & slipped it into his pocket while his mother & father were shopping & got out & pulled it out later munching on it before he was caught by his folks! And thank God those folks immediately hustled him back to the cash register & scolded him & apologised to the cashier & paid for the half-eaten candy bar & the cashier smiled & accepted it graciously & was thankful.
53. SO YOU HAD BETTER TEACH YOUR CHILDREN NOT TO STEAL & NOT TO SHOPLIFT & NOT TO LIE, or even though saved or even though they have the Lord, even if they have Jesus in their hearts, if they're going to defy the Lord & His Spirit & His voice & go ahead & do things which are wrong, they're going to be in serious trouble if they don't very quickly repent & make it right & restore & give it back or whatever is necessary to make it right if they possibly can, restitution.
54. UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW, IF SOMEONE STOLE SOMETHING OR INJURED SOMEONE ELSE'S CATTLE OR SOMETHING, they had to pay it back four-fold, four times as much; that was their fine, their penalty. In the Old Testament there was no jailing or imprisonment penalty. Apparently the Lord does not think that jail or prisons are very effective or do very much good, & probably do more harm than good.
55. UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW OF STRICT JUSTICE, either you righted the wrong if you could--& you more than righted it like paying back four times as much as you stole--or if you got caught in fornication with an unmarried woman you were compelled to either marry her or pay her off. At least they didn't put you in prison for life for rape, you either had to pay a heavy fine to her father & her, or you had to agree to marry her.
56. OF COURSE THE PENALTY FOR ADULTERY IN THOSE DAYS OF VERY STRICT LEGALISM WAS EXTREMELY HARSH & SEVERE, even as much as stoning to death! And the more serious crimes, of which they had about 26 in the Old Testament which were subject to capital punishment of stoning or being killed in some fashion, was a pretty tough law.
57. BUT THE LAW OF LOVE IS EVEN STRICTER! There are some things which were allowed by Moses' Law which are not allowed by the Law of Love given by Jesus! We are to love the Lord & love our neighbours as ourselves, & even this was not enforced under the Mosaic Law. But it was indicated that this was God's ideal through the laws which He gave, the Ten Commandments, etc., that you were not to hurt your neighbour or do anything to harm him or steal from him his cattle or his wife or whatever.
58. SO THE LAW OF LOVE IN MANY WAYS IS EVEN MORE STRICT, we are to be even more kind & more forgiving. In the Mosaic Law there was virtually no forgiving & it was "an eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth!" But Jesus said, & this is all in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6 & 7, "Ye say that so-&-so, well what did the Law say?"--And He would then tell them how His Law of Love was even stricter.
59. HE SAID, "YOU SAY AN EYE FOR AN EYE & A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH, but we should forgive our brother even if he offends us 70 times 7! If he still comes & is sorry & asks for forgiveness we're to forgive." (Mt.5:38,39; 18:22.) That's the Law of Love, which is even therefore more strict than the strict Law of Moses. It's a more loving law & a much fairer law & way of enforcement.
60. BUT THE POINT IS, THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SAVED, YOU DEFINITELY WILL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR SINS committed after your salvation if you do not repent of them & make them right. This is very clear in some very stern & severe passages in the Scripture which it might be well to turn to for a moment, & which, by the way, many of the Holiness people use to try to prove that if you commit the slightest little sin, even though saved, that you're immediately lost again!
61. WELL, I WANT TO SHOW YOU THAT THESE VERY SAME SCRIPTURES THAT THEY USE do not necessarily say that, & this is a very important subject that apparently the Lord led me to get into for your benefit because I don't think we have dealt very much with this subject before.
62. IN THE FAMOUS BEAUTIFUL 15th CHAPTER OF JOHN ON THE VINE & THE BRANCHES, it says in the sixth verse, "If a man abide not in Me."--Obviously he has been in the Vine, he has been in Christ, he has been saved, but he abides not in the Vine, he leaves the close fellowship of Christ & the Vine.
63. "HE IS CAST FORTH AS A BRANCH & IS WITHERED"--meaning he doesn't bear fruit, therefore he's pruned & cut off because he is a withered & unfruitful branch without life, without sufficient spirit to bear fruit because he's separated from the Vine, from the Lord.
64. "AND MEN GATHER THEM & CAST THEM INTO THE FIRE & THEY ARE BURNED." Well, of course he is showing here that in the case of actual grapevines, if there is such a vine that does not bear fruit because it's withered & doesn't have the sap of the Spirit, men cut them off, prune them off, & they are cast into the fire & burned in the vineyards.
65. WELL, THE HOLINESS PEOPLE HAVE FOR YEARS USED THAT SCRIPTURE to try to prove that, "You see, you can be in Christ & yet lost." Well, I'm sorry, there are too many Scriptures to the contrary which we don't have time to go into now, but you'll find others of our lessons & writings & Letters in which we proved to you that once saved, you are always saved, because God cannot lie or go back on His Word or on Himself as long as you believe.
66. ONCE YOU HAVE RECEIVED CHRIST YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY LOSE HIM, He is not going to cast you out, "He that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." (Jn.6:37.) He that hath the Saviour, if you have Jesus, if you have the Lord, then you have life & you cannot lose your eternal life; you can lose your physical life but not your eternal life. We have written on this subject in many other Letters & we don't have time to go into it now, on the subject of Eternal Salvation, but you can find this elsewhere.
67. BUT THAT SCRIPTURE WE GAVE A MOMENT AGO, "THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN" (1Jn.1:7), that means both past, present & future. And sins you even commit after salvation, after receiving Christ & becoming one of His children & a member of His family, are forgiven & covered by the blood of Christ!
68. --EVEN THOUGH YOU MAY DIE IN YOUR SIN & YOUR DISOBEDIENCE & YOUR REBELLIOUSNESS & willfulness against the Lord as I once did in the story that I told you about Dr. Koger! Even as I died in rebellion & saying no to God, disobedient & refusing to do what He told me to do & I suddenly woke up dead, I was allowed to repent & go back & obey God again. (See No.679.)
69. NEVERTHELESS I WAS BEING TAKEN TO HEAVEN BY DR. KOGER, a very dear saint of God who was coming to get me, obviously to take me into the presence of the Lord or His judgement angel or whatever. And I was so thankful to see Dr. Koger, I knew I was at least going the right direction, that I was still saved even though I had defied the Lord, disobeyed Him, rebelled against His will, refused to do what he told me to do, & therefore He took my life!
70. HE SAYS IN THE COMMUNION SERVICE, FOR THIS CAUSE, BECAUSE SOME HAVE NOT REPENTED OF THEIR SINS & not made things right with the Lord, many are sick among you & many sleep. (1Co.11:30.) Many Christians have died even because of sin, unrighted sins, unrepented sins.
71. SO THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF GOD IN SOME CASES HAS NOT ONLY BEEN SICKNESS & trial & tribulation & chastening, chastisement, spankings, but if you flatly refuse to repent & make things right, you become such a poor testimony & such a bad influence on others that God sometimes may take your life!
72. I'VE KNOWN THAT TO HAPPEN IN MANY CASES OF CHRISTIANS WHOM I KNEW WERE SAVED, loved the Lord, but backslid & got into a state of terrible rebellion against the Lord & terrible disobedience so that they were a very bad influence on others, led others astray, led others to backslide & led others out of the Lord's work, were a bad influence.
73. UNTIL FINALLY THE LORD, AFTER MANY REBUKES, "He that being often reproved yet hardeneth his neck"--in other words, continues to rebel against the will of God--"shall suddenly be destroyed & that without remedy!" (Pr.29:1.)
74. SO THE POINT IS, ALTHOUGH SAVED, WE CAN STILL COMMIT SINS, which, if we were not saved, along with our unbelief & our lack of salvation would doom us to a sad hereafter of punishment & Hell & purgatory to whatever was necessary to try to bring us to repentance & final reconciliation with the Lord, as I believe & I'm sure from the scriptures, is going to occur in the hereafter even with those who are not now saved.
75. AND OF COURSE HOW MUCH MORESO WITH THOSE WHO ARE SAVED who are going to have to face Christ & His Judgement Seat & receive either their rewards for being good or some of the punishments or shame & contempt for having been naughty or bad or rebellious or disobedient & have committed sins against the Lord & not repented of them & not been forgiven. Some of these things we're going to have to make right in the next World if we don't make them right in this. We're going to have to confess & repent of some of our sins there. (1Tim.5:24.)
76. IF GOD HAS TO FINALLY TAKE US IN AN UNREPENTANT STATE & UNFORGIVEN HERE because of our refusal to repent & refusal to change, refusal to change our minds & our direction of life, have a metanoia, a change of mind, a genuine repentance, the Lord then is going to have to require it of us undoubtedly in the future World, & He may even take our life from us if we persist in our rebellion & our unrepentant state, unforgiven, & still defiant & disobedient & a bad influence on others.
77. HE MAY HAVE TO TAKE OUR LIVES TO PREVENT OUR DOING ANY MORE DAMAGE, & I've known this to happen in many cases of Christians who have died before their time. Their life has been taken because they did not follow the Lord as they should have & they became a bad witness & a dandy bad example instead of a good example.
78. AS I'VE SAID UPON OCCASION, SOME PEOPLE I KNOW ARE LIKE THE LITTLE GREETING CARD I found once & sent to someone I knew. It said on the front page of one of those joke cards: "You're not entirely worthless..."--& you open it up & inside it read, "You make a dandy bad example!"
79. SO SOME OF THESE PEOPLE, OUR BACKSLIDERS, HAVE MADE A DANDY BAD EXAMPLE & even led others astray & others to go back & others to rebel & others to be lost from the cause because of their dandy bad example. I'm thinking right now particularly of people like some of our top leaders we once had in the Chain such as Deborah & Jethro & Rachel & others who have gone back to their vomit, "the dogs back to their vomit & the hogs to their wallowing in the mire," because of their pride & refusal to obey & refusal to confess, refusal to change, refusal to do what's right & refusal to make things right in restitution, refusal to repent.
80. RATHER THAN REPENT, RATHER THAN HUMBLE THEMSELVES & CHANGE & OBEY, THEY SIMPLY REBELLED & left the Family & became very disobedient, went back to the World & its Worldliness & its pit & hog-wallow & filthy vomit of the System! Sad, sad picture! I think they're some of the saddest cases that must really break the heart of the Lord!
81. BUT HE DOES CERTAINLY WORK THEM OVER IN EVERY WAY HE CAN with chastening & chastisement & spankings & sufferings & all kinds of trouble to try to bring them back to Himself, drive them to Himself, if necessary with the rod of His chastising in order to persuade them to repent with the rod & to change their ways, confess, repent & ask for forgiveness & come back to the fold.
82. SOMETIMES THIS BACKSLIDING HAS DONE SOME PEOPLE A LOT OF GOOD, they've learned a lot of lessons they needed to learn, so that when they came back they never backslid again! They had had enough of the pit, their fill of the slime & the vomit & the wallowing in the mire!
83. THEY HAD A GOOD STRONG TASTE OF THE SYSTEM AGAIN & IT MADE THEM THROW UP FOR SURE & get so sick of it that they asked the Lord to forgive them & did the best they could to come back to His Family, to His work, to the fold & to serving Him & obeying Him again--confessing, repenting & really changing & actually having become better for it because they learned such bitter lessons through such a sad experience.
84. IT'S A HARD WAY TO LEARN, EXPERIENCE IS A HARD TEACHER. As I once told Jethro, "Well, Jeth, if you don't want to sit in my classes & learn from me, then I guess you'll have to learn the hard way." And he said, "Yes Dad, I guess that's the way I want to learn, I want to learn the hard way!" Well, he sure has learned the hard way & is still learning the hard way from what I hear, & God only knows what the end thereof will be!
85. IF YOU REFUSE THE EASY WAY OF OBEDIENCE, "the way of the transgressor is hard" & you will certainly learn the hard way! (Pr.13:15.) But if you even refuse to learn by experience & by the hard way & by your transgressions, the Lord may have to take your life, take you completely out of this life so you will no longer be a bad testimony & a bad influence on others & drag others down & lead others astray.
86. SO WATCH OUT, DEAR BACKSLIDER, YOU HAD BETTER REPENT & COME BACK TO THE LORD & DO IT QUICK! You had better confess your sins & your backslidings & return to the Lord!--He says that if you do, "I will abundantly pardon." He pleads in Isaiah with the wicked to repent of his wicked ways & turn from his wrongdoings. If he will return & turn unto the Lord, the Lord will abundantly pardon, He says. (Is.55:7.)
87. IT'S A SERIOUS THING TO GO BACK ON THE LORD. Jesus says that, "No man having put his hand to the plow & looking back is fit for the Kingdom!" (Lk.9:62.) In other words, you're not worthy of His service, you're not worthy to be an example to others, you're not worthy to follow the Lord.
88. --IF YOU EVEN LOOK BACK! In other words, you wish you were back, you wish you could go back, that's why you look back. You're sorry to be here, you're tired of His service, you're weary in well-doing & you start looking back at the old ways & looking back at home & dreaming of being home again.
89. YOU WISH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO LIVE SUCH A HARD LIFE HERE ON THE MISSION FIELD with all its trials & tribulations. Here you're plowing along having a tough time of it with this plow & hard ground & a stubborn ox, & so you look back.
90. YOU KNOW, WHICH EVER WAY YOU LOOK, WHERE YOUR HEART IS, THERE WILL YOUR TREASURE BE ALSO!--Or where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, it works both ways. (Mt.6:21.) So that if you even look back it means you're regretting having to be here & wish you were back. If you look back, you'll soon be wishing you were back, & if you continue to do so, you'll soon be back there & a backslider!
91. SO MAY GOD HELP YOU TO LEARN THE BITTER LESSONS OF BACKSLIDING, so if you do backslide you'll never do it again!--Or else the Lord may have to take your life or the life of one of your loved ones or do something even more drastic to teach you a lesson--your last lesson!
92. SO THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE HE MEANS HERE IN THIS SCRIPTURE IN JOHN: That if you're so withered that you don't bear fruit by refusing the sap of the Spirit or the Vine, you're out of fellowship, you don't abide in the Vine, you don't abide in Christ, you don't abide in His Love, His Word, His service, then you are cast forth as a branch, you're withered & you'll be gathered & cast into the fire & burned--killed!
93. AND I'LL TELL YOU, THERE'S NO FIRE AS HOT AS SOME OF THE FIRES OF AFFLICTION & the fires of chastisement & the fires of suffering & the spankings that God can give to try to cause you to repent & to come back to Him! And He says definitely if you do come back to Him, "whosoever cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." (Jn.6:37.) That if you repent of your wicked ways & come back to the Lord, turn to the Lord, that He will abundantly pardon! (Isa.55:7.) PTL!
94. SO I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU CANNOT COME BACK TO THE LORD, that you cannot continue to be saved, but it's very difficult in some cases, extremely, & in some cases it seems to be virtually impossible. Listen to this Scripture in Hebrews 6:4-8:
95. "FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO WERE ONCE ENLIGHTENED & have tasted of the Heavenly gift, & were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, & have tasted the good Word of God & the powers of the World to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh & put Him to an open shame!
96. "FOR THE EARTH WHICH DRINKETH IN THE RAIN THAT COMETH OFT UPON IT, & bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns & briars is rejected & is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned!" Well, that is a very severe Scripture which the Holiness people use to try to prove that you can be saved & lost. On the other hand, the "once saved always saved" extremists try to turn it around the other way & say that it doesn't mean exactly what it says.
97. WELL, AS USUAL, WE'RE SORT OF IN-BETWEEN, WE DON'T AGREE WITH THE LEFTISTS OR THE RIGHTISTS ON EITHER HAND. We're sort of centrists striking a middle-of-the-road, a balance, a moderation. We try to strike a temperance, a temperate balance between two opposing views, & we find there is in some way some truth on each side, but the exact truth usually seems to be somewhere down the middle with some right on both sides, some truth on both sides.
98. THE TRUTH ON THE SIDE OF THE HOLINESS PEOPLE is that if you are going to sin as a Christian, you're not going to get away with it, you are going to receive punishment for it in some way, although we do not believe that you're going to lose your salvation. You may even lose your life & be punished even in some respects, in some ways, raised to everlasting shame & contempt in the hereafter, but saved.
99. YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, CANNOT JUST LIVE AS YOU PLEASE AS THE "ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED" EXTREMISTS TEACH, those who believe in eternal salvation to the extreme. They claim you can live as you please & do as you please & die in sin in the worst wickedness & you'll still be saved without retribution or punishment. We do not believe that either, that's the opposite extreme.
100. WE BELIEVE THAT ACCORDING TO THESE SCRIPTURES, IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN YOU WILL BE SAVED, you have eternal salvation--once saved, always saved. But if you commit sins against the Lord & others which are unconfessed, unrepented, not made right in this life, that you will suffer for them in some way or be rewarded accordingly in some way, negatively, in this life or the Next--or both!
101. YOU WILL CERTAINLY BE PUNISHED FOR IT IN THIS LIFE, in fact, your punishment may even be physical death, your present life being terminated because of your dandy bad example & bad influence on others, to stop you from doing any more damage. If punishment & spankings & chastisement do not bring you to confess & repent & turn around, metanoia, go the other way, go His way & try to make things right, He may have to take your life!
102. AND IF SO, IF YOU THEREFORE DIE IN YOUR SINS, even though you have faith in Christ & you have a measure of the Holy Spirit, at least enough for salvation, & yet you have disobeyed the Lord & you have displeased Him & you have defied Him, you have refused to obey Him & backslidden, if it becomes serious enough that you do not repent, He may have to terminate this life of yours on Earth & take you some place else to learn your lessons & to teach you what's right & that you must obey the Lord.
103. OUR WHOLE EXPERIENCE OF OUR WHOLE EXISTENCE BOTH IN THIS LIFE & THE HEREAFTER IS LIKE A SCHOOLING to teach us what we need to know about the Lord & salvation & about His service & obedience to Him & keeping His Law of love, & its blessings, as well as its curses in disobeying it & breaking it & hurting others or ourselves.
104. SO IT'S A VERY SERIOUS THING WHEN PEOPLE HAVE KNOWN WHAT'S RIGHT & THEY GO BACK ON IT. This is what this passage says in Hebrews 6 beginning with the fourth verse: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened & have tasted of the Heavenly gift & were made partakers of the Holy Ghost." Now whether they're saved or not, what is God's Heavenly Gift?--Salvation. They were even partakers of the Holy Ghost, they had even sampled the Holy Spirit, at least to the point of salvation.
105. "HAVE TASTED THE GOOD WORD OF GOD"--they've had the light, they know the truth, they know the Word. "And the powers of the World to come"--they've even felt the power of God. "If they shall fall away," He says, "it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh & put Him to an open shame. "
106. IN OTHER WORDS, IF THEY'VE HAD THAT MUCH LIGHT & GONE THAT FAR with the Lord & know the Lord that well--they have been enlightened, they have been saved, they have a measure of the Holy Ghost at least sufficient for salvation, they know the Word, they've felt the power--if they have gone that far with the Lord & yet have turned back, Paul says that he believes that it's impossible to renew them to repentance, to get them to change & come back again to where they were before.
107. WELL, AS YOU KNOW, I DON'T ALWAYS AGREE WITH PAUL. He was a pretty strong harsh severe teacher & he made a few mistakes. If he meant that that meant they were going to be lost, then I don't believe it. Or he may have simply meant that it was going to be impossible to get them back to where they once were before, because they have put the Lord to shame, been a bad testimony, hurt Him & crucified Him again with their sins! GHU!
108. THEY HAVE GONE SO FAR BACK & DONE SO BADLY THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE THEM TO THE POSITION THEY ONCE HAD or the blessings they once had or the usefulness they once had. They've gone too far back & they've committed too many sins, they've caused too much trouble, led too many astray, been too big a bad influence, that it's just too much, & they've gone too far for the Lord to bring them back to where they once were, & sometimes He will have to simply take them from this life to erase their poor example & their bad testimony & their evil influence, although saved.
109. AND HE GOES ON TO SAY: "FOR THE EARTH WHICH DRINKETH IN THE RAIN"--in other words, receives the rain, a type of the Word, the water--"& bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed"--in other words, is fruitful, bears good fruit, receives God's blessings. "But that which beareth thorns & briars is rejected & is nigh unto cursing"--you notice he says it is very close to being cursed--"and whose end is to be burned."
110. WELL, THE HOLINESS PEOPLE SAY, "AH-HA, THERE IT IS, THE FLAMES & FIRES OF HELL!" Well, I'll tell you, you can suffer the flames & the fires of Hell on Earth right here & now in this life for your sins, as many of you know, you can go through Hell right here! As many sinners say, they don't believe in Hell Hereafter, they're getting enough Hell right now!
111. I AM FULLY PERSUADED THAT YOU CAN GO THROUGH THE FIRES OF HELL NOW & I have been through it myself upon occasion when I felt like I was almost lost & damned & went through the very fires of Hell on this Earth in this life for my sins!
112. --WHICH, THANK GOD, IN MY CASE, CAUSED ME TO REPENT, to confess & cry out for mercy to the Lord to be saved--not saved again, but to be saved from my sins & from my punishments & His severe chastening & the very flames of suffering into which He caused me to pass through the fire because of my wickedness & my sins & my bad example & my unbelief & my rebelliousness & my disobedience!
113. AS I SAY, ONE TIME HE ACTUALLY TOOK MY LIFE FROM ME & I woke up dead facing Dr. Koger in the Spirit World! But boy, I'll tell you, even in the Hereafter when I was dead, I immediately repented, asked God to forgive me & said, "Lord, if there's any way to go back & undo the damage & do the right thing"--I didn't exactly say please let me--but "I wish there were some way I could go back!"--And instantly I woke up again alive, lying in my bed as I had been before!
114. AND I'LL TELL YOU, THAT LITTLE LESSON SURE MADE ME HIGHTAIL IT BACK TO, YOU MIGHT SAY, MY NINEVAH to shout the message of God, despite any consequences or suffering or persecution, & we went through a lot of suffering & persecution as a result. But as a result of going through those fires of suffering, I repented, & as a result, in my case, of having actually died & being tantamount to almost ready to face the Lord, I'll tell you, I repented in a hurry!--And God gave me a second chance in the life Hereafter, think of that! He forgave me there & let me live again!
115. HE SAID, HOWEVER, THAT THE SIN OF UNBELIEF, like the Scribes & the Pharisees, their rebellion against the Holy Ghost, sin against the Holy Ghost, which is unbelief in God & His Word & His Christ, that sin, He said, is unpardonable, the only unpardonable sin, & cannot be forgiven in this life nor in the life hereafter! (Mt.12:31,32.)
116. SO THEREFORE, THERE ARE SINS WHICH CAN BE FORGIVEN HERE IF YOUR REPENTANCE IS SUFFICIENT, restitution is made, etc., & you follow the Lord more closely thereafter. But as Paul says in another place, "there is a sin which is a sin unto death, I don't ask that necessarily that can be forgiven." (1Jn.5:16.) In other words, a sin for which the penalty is death in this life, even though saved & saved hereafter.
117. I COMMITTED, IN THAT CASE, "THE SIN UNTO DEATH" & THE LORD ACTUALLY ALLOWED ME TO DIE for a short time in order to persuade me to repent & confess so that I could come back to this life & do it over again & make the right decision. And the moment I was contrite in heart & repentant in heart & confessed my sin even in my heart & was wishing I could come back to this life, instantly I was restored to this life!
118. I FOUND I WAS ALIVE AGAIN LYING IN THE BED FLAT ON MY BACK where I had been when I went to sleep. Whereas when I woke up I was sitting up, half in my body, half out & ready to drift off with Dr. Koger to meet the Lord! Thank God He let me come back & repent, because as a result of that, I'll tell you, I've seldom ever gotten out of His will since then, I've seldom ever disobeyed the Lord since then, & never really completely backslidden. I've tried to follow Him more closely than ever!
119. I'LL TELL YOU, I REALISED THE HAND OF GOD WAS HEAVY & IT'S A FEARSOME THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD! I didn't want a repeat of that performance, so I have tried to follow Him very closely & very obediently, humbly, ever since! And as a result, you can see the Worldwide results today in the Family & the millions of souls saved through one man's obedience to the Lord! TYJ!
120. IT'S ALL THE LORD, NOT ME; ALL I DID WAS OBEY! But it's a serious thing to disobey, as He says in this passage, & you're going to go through the fire if you do!--Your works are going to be burned even though you may be saved. Well, my little talking clock is telling me I've got to quit pretty quick for an appointment that I have!
121. SO HE GOES ON TO SAY IN HEBREWS 6:9,10: "BUT, BELOVED, WE ARE PERSUADED BETTER THINGS OF YOU, & things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work & labour of love which ye have showed toward His Name, in that ye have ministered to the saints & do minister."
122. IN OTHER WORDS, HE'S SAYING THAT YOU WERE A GOOD BOY ONCE UPON A TIME & you did do a lot of good things & He's not going to forget it. He's going to give you a chance to repent, He's going to give you a chance to come back to Him & serve Him again.
123. (VERSE 11:) "AND WE DESIRE THAT EVERY ONE OF YOU DO SHOW THE SAME DILIGENCE to the full assurance of hope unto the end." I'll tell you, it's hard to feel saved when you're so disobedient, for you can only feel that full assurance when you're obedient to the Lord & in His service & not sinning against Him.
124. SO THEN HE SAYS, VERSE 12, "THAT YE BE NOT SLOTHFUL, but followers of them who through faith & patience inherit the promises." In other words, don't be disobedient & backslidden so as to have to suffer all that chastisement & chastening & punishment & the fires of the indignation of the Lord & perhaps even death! It's better to follow the Lord & be faithful & patient & inherit the promises. Praise God?
125. THEN OF COURSE ALSO IN HEBREWS 10 IT GIVES A VERY SERIOUS PREDICTION which is a little difficult for some people to take. Here again the Holiness "eternal in security" people disagree with the eternal-security, "once saved always saved" people, those who believe in eternal salvation & disagree with the Holiness people who are never sure of their salvation.
126. BUT HERE IN HEBREWS 10 I THINK IT MAKES THE SUBJECT EVEN CLEARER, beginning with the 26th verse: "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth"--in other words, if we have received it, that means you have heard it, believed it & received it, you're saved--"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins."
127. IN OTHER WORDS, SINS COMMITTED AFTER YOUR SALVATION, BELOVED, unless you repent & confess & get forgiveness, you're going to have to suffer for them, for there certainly remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.--That is, of course, unless you do confess & repent. The Lord makes that so clear in other Scriptures, there shouldn't be any doubt about it that you can confess & repent & restore & come back to the Lord & be forgiven.
128. BUT IF YOU DON'T, "THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS"--unless you come back to the Lord & claim His sacrifice. But if you don't repent, there's no more sacrifice, "but a certain fearful looking for of judgement & fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
129. "FOR HE THAT DESPISED MOSES' LAW DIED WITHOUT MERCY by the word of two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy"--or ye be thought worthy--"who hath trodden under foot the Son of God"--in other words, by your sins & your backsliding--"& hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing"--you have despised your birthright--"& hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"--you have offended the Holy Spirit by your backsliding even to the point of death!
130. "OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISHMENT," HE SAYS, "SHALL YOU BE THOUGHT WORTHY?"--Not only to die as they did under the Law of Moses, but "a fearful looking for of judgement & fiery indignation" which is going to devour you as the judgements of God devour our adversaries! If you participate with them in their same sins & their same wickedness, you're going to have to suffer some of their same punishments, whether it be here or even hereafter. (Rev.18:4.)
131. SO IF SOMEONE WHO DESPISED EVEN THE WORD OF THE LORD THROUGH MOSES DIED WITHOUT MERCY, "of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall you be thought worthy?--Who in the face of all the light that you have & all that you have known & experienced--much more than the old Jews under Moses--how much more it is to know Jesus personally & have Him in your heart & know His love by experience & to have His Holy Spirit, which was formerly only given to a few people, kings & prophets, etc., but now is for all men who receive the Lord!
132. HOW MUCH MORE YOU OWE THE LORD, HOW MUCH MORE HE'S GIVEN YOU, how much more you're sinning against, how much more light you're sinning against! Look how much more the Lord's given you! He's given you in my writings & my books now already about ten or twelve times as much as He's given you in the Bible! How much more responsible you are to the truth & the light & the clearer explanations that we have given you, & the clearer revelations & more recent revelations that the Lord has given you even through us in this Last Day!
133. SO THAT SURELY IN THIS LAST DAY YOU'RE EVEN MORE RESPONSIBLE & WILL BE WORTHY OF EVEN SORER PUNISHMENT than under the Law of Moses if you sin against God's Law of Love & turn back & become unworthy of His service, unworthy of His blessings, but worthy of His curses & His punishments & the fires of His indignation both here & perhaps some hereafter for all we know. Some will be beaten will few stripes hereafter who did things worthy of stripes; some who knew better will be beaten with many stripes! (Lk.12:47,48.)
134. SO YOU WILL CERTAINLY HAVE TO SUFFER FOR YOUR SINS, BELOVED, EVEN THOUGH SAVED, if you continue to reject the will of God & His Word & continue to rebel against His service & refuse to obey, & you completely disobey & go back against Him & against His Word, against His will & against His blessings.
135. IF YOU BACKSLIDE AGAINST HIM, TURN AGAINST HIM, against His service, against His Family, against His children & against Him Himself, if you turn back, I can see nothing more for you than a fearful looking for of judgement & fiery indignation, the same as shall devour our adversaries--like the U.S.A.!
136. ANYONE WHO HAS DESPISED THE GREAT LIGHT & EXTENSIVE WORD THAT HE HAS GIVEN TODAY, you are going to certainly be punished for it & even perhaps your life taken for it, even though eventually saved & not suffering as much as those who actually refuse to believe in Christ, or actually refuse Jesus entirely & were not saved at all.
137. SO THERE'S MY ANSWER TO YOU, & PERHAPS THIS IS WHY I HAD THIS DREAM WHICH INSPIRED THIS LITTLE LESSON, really a lesson on backsliding, because certainly in the dream when I did that little seemingly almost harmless bit of shoplifting it was a backsliding, & there's nothing small to the Lord! There's no really small sin & there's really no such thing as a little "white" lie. Sin is sin & even "he that breaks the least of one of these commandments shall be called the least in the Kingdom of God!" (Mt.5:19.)--But still in!
138. SO MAY THE LORD HAVE MERCY ON YOU TO CONFESS YOUR SIN & REPENT OF IT NO MATTER HOW SMALL, or you're going to suffer for it in some way. So may the Lord forgive you! Well, there's my final warning on my little talking clock, & this is my final warning to you that you had better repent! "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." (Isa.1:18.)
139. IF YOU WILL FORSAKE YOUR SIN & TURN TO THE LORD, OUR GOD SHALL ABUNDANTLY PARDON, He has promised to do so. (Isa.55:7.) So may the Lord help you to confess & help you to ask for forgiveness & repent of your sins & come back to Him & His service that He may bless you again, in Jesus' name! Amen.--AMEN?--TODAY!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family