Gifts In Perversion

The Lord is blessing Brother Richard. He's found him a job, and it looks like he's going to be able to get everything situated real well. For this we're real grateful. He was wanting so bad to find him a job, and get settled. God gave him one, and looks like he's going to be able to go ahead and do something that will be beneficial to the church, and to his family as well. Paul exhorted in one place, he said this, that he wished we all might just work, eat our bread with meekness and quietness, and just live peaceable with all men as much as lies within us. If you've got the Holy Ghost within you you've got a lot within you. So, said, If a man don't work neither shall he eat, that we should disfellowship him that he might be ashamed. And I am thankful for those that are willing to work and help carry on the things of God unless it is a minister of God that's given himself continually unto the very things of God. Whereas, the Bible said if a minister be giving himself continually unto the things of God then you should render to all of his need and dues seeing that he giveth himself continually to this very thing. And when they were questioned concerning this in the New Testament they said that they would give themselves continually to the ministry and to prayer. So then, to be continually in the things of God we've got to be continually publishing the gospel, and in prayer. This is the answer to a continuation of service in God. It is wrong for us to take the outlook that we are a minister and that we should not work. I say again that Paul, the greatest apostle, perhaps, of his time, maybe one of the greatest in the world, worked, had the greatest revelation that man ever had, still worked with his hands, and still helped support the weak. The Bible said we should labor that we might have to give unto others. By this so laboring, we are able to help support the weak. And if we want to be an example that is what we should do. Paul said, Not that I should have to work, in that he had faith he didn't have to worry about that, but he said he did it to be an example, and therefore it doesn't hurt whether we work around the church, or work on a job, or wherever we work, we should work. We should be doing something. It is not godly for any man just to sit around and never do anything. I really believe that is the most disgusting thing in the sight of God that God could look upon, is somebody that never does nothing but sit around. As a matter-of-fact, you'll die. If you do that it won't be long until you will die. Your body will just die, because God made it to be exercised. And as I've said before, even Adam in the garden, God gave him something to do, even to dress the trees, for the benefit of his physical form that he might not decay, rot. And it's one of the worse things we could do, is not to be active in something. But I thank the Lord for them that are willing to do something for God. Now, I don't have any special thing in mind. I had a lot of things on my heart. I've come with an enthusiasm, just bubbling over to share with you some of the revelation and things that I had seen. And each time the Lord suffered me not to do it. Or did not suffer me to do it. And I just kind of lost my enthusiasm, and just decided I'd just wait and not get ahead of Him and let Him do what He would do, and if anything come up, well, it would come out, and otherwise we would just kind of wait and see just what He had in mind. That way we don't get the cart ahead of the horse. Over in the book of Revelation, chapter 11, we'll read just a little bit. We may get a thought for tonight as far as revelation, and we may not. But anyway, we'll read just a little bit. If we don't do anything else we'll discuss the Scriptures. One thing that I've learned in preaching the gospel is, a lot of times the preacher is wound up and enthused about giving you the Word, but sometimes you're not as wound up and enthused about getting it. Sometimes you come and you're not really hungry for the Word. I try so hard to share what I have with different ones and some of them are just not hungry for them, and they don't__ The Bible said if we hunger and thirst after the Word of God, well, we'll be filled. And some of us are just not hungry, and we're not thirsty, and some of us feed off of intellectual reasoning all day long, therefore we have no spiritual appetite. And then, no matter what you give to some, you could give something to them everyday, but they'll always inform you that they already knew that. It doesn't matter what you give them, they'll say, Well, I already knew that. So, I don't see any point in giving anything to anybody if they already know it, because that's a waste of time. As a matter-of-fact, I'm like Brother T.L. Osborne. I remember Brother Osborne making the statement that it's unfair to preach the gospel to some people twice when some people have never heard it one time. And some people are so smart and intelligent that, as I said, it's no matter what you tell them they'll have you to know that you haven't learned them anything, that they already knew it. And those people are the most disgusting people to me that I have ever met, and to the Lord. So, I don't really want to try to share anything with those people, but to those that don't know what we're trying to teach you, well, those are the people that we're trying to reach. If you do know it already then I am ashamed of you because you haven't shared it with so many people that are dying and starving for the Word of God in all this time. Revelation 11. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: (Reads the entire 11th chapter.) Now, this is reading quite a bit from the book of Revelation in the 11th chapter. This is concerning the witnesses, the two witnesses that the Bible tells us will be killed and will lay in the street of the great city that is spiritually called Sodom. The place also where our Lord was crucified. To me that's a key. If we know that there is a place that's called Sodom and it was the place where our Lord was crucified then we understand that that is Jerusalem, because we know that that is where our Lord was crucified. So then, the place spiritually called Sodom would be Jerusalem. Now, that means that God has a spiritual application to the things that we are acquainted with in life. He has a spiritual name for those who are born again. Our name is one thing. At our natural birth our name is a new name altogether for our second birth. Our parents name us at the first birth. God names us at the second birth. We are sons of men in our first birth; we are sons of God in our second birth. Therefore we receive a name even as James and John when they're referred to. The Lord called them the Sons of Thunder. When He referred to Paul, or Saul of Tarsus it called him Paul. So we see that there is a difference in our earthly birth, and our heavenly. The name Jesus is a name that's given to the Lord Jesus at his earthly birth. But the Bible teaches that God will give Him a name that nobody knows except He, Himself, and to whom He will reveal it. So then, there is, because he honored the heavenly Father with His name in His lifetime. Now, I'd just like to take my time and talk with you tonight, and if the Lord does happen to give us something, well, then we'll talk to you about it. If He doesn't, well, we'll just have a general discussion. Going back to Calvary as always in the teachings of the Scriptures, coming back here to the door that's open in heaven. I read to you here in the Scriptures where it said that when this last voice spoke that all of a sudden the heavens rolled open and the door was open in heaven, and the ark of the testimony of God was seen. How many of you remember me reading that just a few minutes ago. So then, there was a door open in heaven, John said. I went back to that so many times pointing out that the door that was open in heaven was the rent veil of Calvary. By means of the rent veil of Calvary, through faith, the transformation of the mind, we have power to transform our minds through the Spirit of God, and enter into the heavenly world. Now, if I can take my time and talk to you tonight, if you'll show as much interest as you can, if the Lord gives us a few things we'll share it with you. But, notice this one thing. Now, if we can go back to Calvary, and if we, by the means of transformation of our minds can enter into the heavenly places, then that means that not only can we do it, but Satan can also do it. That means that not only can we do it, but sinners can also do it. They, also by the transformation of their minds, they can enter into the heavenly places. Now you would say, Brother Pike, that doesn't sound like the Bible to me, but it is. The Bible said that if you climb up any other way outside going through the door, the same is a thief and a robber. Satan was known to go right into the very presence of God. And the Lord said to him, in the days of Job, said, Satan, where have you been? And he said, From going to and fro in the earth. Now, it is a true fact that the Bible tells us that the minister's of Satan have transformed themselves into ministers of light. That is, the word light means the Bible teachings, the knowledge of God, that they can transform their minds into a word of light. Whereas, God said, Paul, turn my people from darkness, that is the carnal mind of Satan, the beast, to the light of the mind of Jesus Christ. And so then, by the power of the transformation of the mind they become illuminated in the days of grace. And being in the days of grace they are able to do it. Remember this one thing, children of God, wizards, fortune tellers, people like Balaam, people who love the wages of unrighteousness can work spiritual gifts. Now, this is why that I do not major on spiritual gifts. Now, I don't know. There's no way that I could tell unless I could come in contact with a person, or unless God speaks to me, whether they're working by the Satanic forces, or how they are working. I don't know unless God shows me. But I do know that you can enter into the presence of God, as Balaam did, and you can still be a lover of unrighteousness. The Bible said he loved the wages of unrighteousness; and yet he could enter into the presence of God, as Satan did, and he could comprehend, and he could see the Lord with his eyes open, falling into a trance. He had a spiritual gift. Many fortune tellers do the very same thing. Now, I just read a little paper the other day about some Sister. You know, they call their names Sister So and So, and they set them up a little place. I think she's over here near Commerce somewhere. But anyway, they set up a little place and she said that she can heal. Said if everybody else has failed to heal you come to her; she can heal you. Now, she says that she has the power to heal. Now, down at the bottom of the little pamphlet she says that God has given her the power to heal. You see, they accredit what they do to God just the same way that you do. Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness, but what he did was God. Is that right? That's what he did. It was by the power of God. God spoke to him and told him what he could say and what he could not say. And so then, it is just like life, as I pointed out so many times, that is in a pestilent, or parasite. Life in a parasite, whether it be a rat, or whatever it is, it is just as much life as it is in a dog, or a cat. It's just as much life as it is in you and I. It's just as much life, but the thing is, it's under the control of a perverted motive, and perverted means. In other words, it is under the control of a power that is contrary to God. Now, we know that rats and parasites, God has made them like that just to be typical. They are just typical of this power of perversion, because rats can't help that. They are made like that. God made them like that to annoy people, and to be a type of the Satanic forces and demon power. But the evil forces that take control of humanity, these powers and these forces are the powers of perversion that takes the pure, wholesome life of a human being into captivity and uses it for their own perverted purposes and motives. Look at a drunkard. A drunkard has the same life you have. He breathes, he sees, he thinks, he walks, he talks. Look at a whoremonger, look at a thief, look at a robber, look at a murderer. Every one of them has the same life you have, the same life, but there is a perverted power that's got control of them, warped their disposition, and because of that this life is in captivity and it's used by the powers of Satan. And Satan uses that power to satisfy himself with it that he might not be cast out of the presence of life into the dry places to wander through dry places seeking rest, not being able to find it. As long as a parasite can get control of your spirit through the medium of your spirit it can live by the life that God has allotted unto man for a period of time, or through the days of grace. So then, in the days of grace Satan can transform himself into an angel of light in the days of grace. And by that he can transform, or translate, right into the heavenly places. Now it's the same way with his ministers. They can come through here, or they can get up in the pulpit, and they can shout, and they can dance, and they can sing. And somebody, they will scrutinize them, and they'll watch them, and they'll say, Well, I'm going to see if this really is the Spirit of God. And so then, somebody that's just about half in and half out, that's looking for fault with the right thing anyway, just as quick as that minister gets up and starts and the Spirit of God falls, then somebody says, Well, bless God, I know that this is God. I know that this is the Spirit of God they'll say. I've got enough sense to know the difference between Satan and the Spirit of God. I know this is God. I'm going to follow that man. I don't care what Brother Pike, or anybody else says. And so it is. Like the Lord said to Balaam, Go on Balaam. Sure, it was the Spirit of God on Balaam. It was the Spirit of God talking to him, but that didn't mean that Balaam was right. The Bible said a child is known by his doings. We're not to judge him by what kind of Spirit comes on him, because in the days of grace the Spirit of God comes on the just and the unjust. The rain comes on the harlot, and comes on the drunkard, it comes on the murderer, it comes on the Baptist Church, it comes on the Methodist Church. When Billy Graham stands up and preaches the Spirit of God comes down just like it does any other place, but that doesn't mean that the minister is right. It doesn't mean that the congregation is right. It just means that we're in the days of grace and God is pouring out of His Spirit upon all flesh. That's what it means. So then, you say, How can I tell a tree, Brother Pike. The Bible said by the fruit that it bears. If it brings forth the fruits of the Spirit, then it's a tree of God. If it brings forth the fruits of the devil, then I don't care how much the Spirit of God comes upon it, as the rain on the just and the unjust, you better leave that man along. You'd better leave him alone, because there is something wrong. That's why that I don't go around telling you that you ought to try to get gifts, or try to do that, because I am persuaded, and convicted of God that the gifts are already in the church, that you don't have to try to get a gift, that God has already placed the gifts in the church, but that what you need to do is to follow Christ, and take the same example of Christ saying, Father, not my will be done but thine, try to perfect holiness unto God in the fear of the Lord, and bring your life into perfection with God, and if you've got a gift it will automatically start working. That's right. I don't care how much you try to manufacture something; it will only lead you to trouble. But, Brothers and Sister, if you've got a gift in your life, and most certainly you have as the church, then the deeper depths you find with God, the more holy you live, the more righteous you become, the more you pray, Father, thy will be done, not mine, the more that gift will work. And if that isn't the case, if you start following after gifts instead of following after charity, as Paul said, Paul said covet a gift, but follow after charity. Now if you start following after a gift the first thing that you find out, your going to have a perverted life. You are not going to be living a Holy life. You're going to get wrapped up in your own self. And the Bible said, Paul said, We preach not ourselves, but Christ. Now, we have to be careful or we'll find we're preaching ourselves. Somebody would say, How do you mean, preaching yourself? Because if you tell everybody what you know, the Bible said a fool uttereth all that he knows. And if you tell everybody what you know you're preaching yourself. But if it's the mind of Christ preaching within you then you're preaching Christ. Now, how many of you understand what I'm saying? I'm trying the best that I know how to bring you into an acknowledgement of Christ, to bring you into the life of Christ. People who are always observing gifts, always, as a rule, you'll find that these people are sinful, adulterous people, because the Bible said a sinful, adulterous generation seeketh to hear somebody prophesy, seeketh to see somebody open blind eyes, seeketh to see somebody use discernment and tell somebody their name. Said, A wicked, a sinful, adulterous generation seeks after that. But we're not seeking after that. We have that in our own lives. If I can't pray the prayer of faith I've got no business trying to preach. Even, I say again, that even the very laity is suppose to be able to lay hands on the sick and they'll recover. Somebody would say, Well, I just don't believe it. Well, you are just an unbeliever. Do you mean to tell me that God put a church in the world and said they could lay hands on the sick and they'd recover, and then you turn and call God a liar, and say there ain't no such people in the world? There are bound to be people in the world, whether you think they're great, or you don't think they're great, there are people who have faith to lay hands on the sick and they will recover because God said it. They're in the world; the church is out there. So then, what we've got to do is perfect holiness unto the Lord. My desire has always been to be Holy. I pray, God make me a perfect man in my generation, like Noah was, and as you said to Daniel, Oh, thou beloved man of God. Make me a perfect man. The Bible said seek the kingdom of God first. All of these other things will be added unto you. But, I know that we have people that will never do that. I know we have people that will never come into that, because a lot of people say, Well, what about Brother William Branham? You can't find where William Branham ever sought a gift. Somebody said, Well, don't you remember how he fasted and prayed for that gift? I know nothing of any praying, or fasting, he ever done. When he was born into the world as a little boy setting on a river bank, didn't know nothing about fasting, or praying, or nothing else, the gift worked in his life, because it was fore-ordained of God. So all this is a bunch of foolishness of trying to get a gift and follow after things like that. That's a bunch of foolishness. What God wants you to do is remember that you are the body of Jesus Christ, and inasmuch as you're the body of Jesus Christ all things are yours, whether it be miracles, discernment, heaven, the stars, the moon, the ocean, whatever it is, gifts, or what not, it belongs to you. All you've got to do is start enjoying it. Now, you say, How can I enjoy it, Brother Pike? By listening to the faith that cometh by the hearing of the Word through the minister that it might develop your faith, that your faith might increase, and that these things might start operating in your life as your faith increases. So then, this is what I'm seeking to do. I'm trying my best to bring you into a knowledge of God, and into an enlightenment of God to develop the mind of Jesus within you, and all the rest of it will take care of itself. Coming back again to a transformation, why am I saying all these things tonight? I say it because if we follow after gifts then we're going to wind up just like the world. Look at the people that can work spiritual gifts. You couldn't get them to be baptized in Jesus name for nothing. And yet they are people of renown across the world. Look at the great men of today that can work gifts, but they don't have__ Then you say, Don't they have the Holy Ghost? Sure it's the Holy Ghost working it. It's God working it. Just like I said, somebody will say, Well, Isn't that Satan working those gifts. No, it's not him; it's God. But the thing is, the one that's making use of it, it's a perverted means. How many of you know that? It's a perverted means. In other words, the life that's in the vessel. Like the woman that kept following Paul over there. The Bible said when the spirit was cast out the hope of the gain for the masters was gone, because the spirit had control of the woman and it motivated her life. Is that right? So then, it is God that works those things. It is God that does it. He worked it in Balaam's life. He worked it in every person's life. It is God. Somebody would say, Well, I don't see how that could be, Brother Pike. You must think that we're ignorant to think that God works that which is in the life of a fortune teller. I want to tell you again. The truth is the truth. I don't care whether it's in the life of a fortune teller, wherever it's at, the truth is the truth. How many believe that's right? It's the truth. You say, How could that be? Because the Bible said God creates the good, and God creates the evil, and God works all things after the counsel of His own will. It doesn't matter what kind of spirit it is, what kind of power it is. It doesn't matter what's taking place, God is at the wheel. God is at the stern, God is the controller of it. God is working it to His own satisfaction and own benefits. So then, Satan can only do that which God allows him to do. A gift, a person will be born into this world with a gift, and when that gift comes into this world Satan takes advantage of it, and he begins to feed off of it. You say, Where do you get that? Look at a person that plays the piano. A person, one person will set down to play the piano, somebody will say, My, they're such a gifted person. And they'll sing, Oh, how I love Jesus. Another will set down to the piano, and somebody will say, My, they're such a gifted person, and they'll play rock and roll. Is that right? It's the same way with playing. It's the same way with singing. It's the same way with any kind of gift that works. It works identically the same by the power of the transformating of the mind. That's right. Satan can transform himself. Demon..(Begin side two.)..of his precious gift. They can taste of the good things of God and the power of the world to come, and of the Holy Ghost, and then turn and fall away after they've done all of that, and still go to hell. And so then, you see, it's a close quarter. The Bible said so close it would deceive the very elect if it were possible. But God has a fore-ordination of the elect. Whereas, before the world ever was God ordained us unto sonship that we might not be lost. We're predestinated. We're God's elect. That's why that we who are elect seek to do one thing and that's please God. We don't seek to lift ourselves up, we don't seek for gifts. We seek on thing and that thing is to please God in everything that we do. That's what the nature of Christ does. The nature of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. What did it do in the days when it walked the earth? What did the nature of Christ do? It sought to please God, saying that I do always the thing that pleases the Father. Is that right? It sought to please God saying, Father, not my will but Thy will be done. If it be suffering, if it be heartaches, whatever it might be, not my will, but Thy will be done, Lord. Is that right? If that nature is in you today it will witness the same way in your heart, and if it witnesses another way, then there is something wrong, my Brother. Now, I want you to listen real close. When a person gets up and begins to preach, when a person gets up, gets up and begins to try to work a gift, if you find that individual__ Now, listen real close. This is going to strike close to home. If you hear that person always referring back to themselves the individual's witness is not true. The Bible said that if any man, any person, witness of themselves their witness is not true. Don't ever go around saying, Brother, you better hear. This is not me, this is God. Brother, you better hear. This is not me, this is God when you are trying to work a spiritual gift, because if you do you will find you are witnessing of yourself, and your witness will not be true. It will not be the Holy Ghost. It will be you trying to lift up your own individual person. The Bible said, When He the Spirit of truth is come, when the Holy Ghost is come He will testify of Me. If that right? He will testify of Me. What do you mean by that, Brother Pike? Jesus said when the Holy Ghost is come, when He, My Spirit, for the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ. When My Spirit comes it will testify of Me, Jesus said. So, if the Spirit of Christ comes into your heart it will testify of the Christ. If the Holy Ghost comes into your heart He will testify of the Word, because the Word is Jesus, and He is the Spirit of the Word, and everything He has to say will point you to the Word, and the understanding of the Word, and the ways of the Word. That's God speaking to you when you do that. I don't mean to get to preaching to you, but that's right. It's God. God, He is speaking to you. He is trying to help you when He begins to tell you that. The Holy Ghost is to guide you, not into being something big, or having fame and popularity, but He is to guide you into all truth and all righteousness. That's what He's trying to do, is perfect the mind of Jesus Christ within you. I want you to listen now. I know that we should praise one another. The Bible said, In a good thing I praise you. We should always praise one another, always. That's the way we praise God is by praising one another. In as much as you do it to the least of these, my Brethren, you do it to Me. Whether you give them a pair of shoes, or whether you praise them. Whether you help them, or whatever, a lot of people say, Well, I'm waiting, Brother Pike, and someday I'm going to do something for God. I want to tell you something. You'll never see God. I said you'll never see God. He's the great light unto whom no man can approach. No man has ever seen Him, nor can see Him. The only way that you can ever do something for God is to do something for your fellow man. The only way that you'll ever do something for God is to do something for one another. God is a spirit, and God has so ordained that you do something for the membership of His body that you might lay up treasures in heaven. That's why you need to give to the work of God, whether it's Brother Pike, or whoever it is. You need to give to the work of God. If you sit around always expecting somebody to give to you, you're going to wind up going to hell, and you're going to wind off over yonder somewhere on a limb. And you're going to find out at the end of the way that you don't have any treasures at all. You've got to pray for somebody else. Look on the things of somebody else, try to do something for somebody else. Not seek your own. The Bible said charity doesn't seek it's own. It seeks the welfare, and comforts, and convenience of somebody else, always through a self-denial. How many of you understand what I'm saying? Good sound doctrine that's able to make you grow up into the fullness of Jesus Christ. So then, I feel that if we are going to come together and have the gifts in our midst, have the mind of Jesus, we're going to have to follow after one thing, and that's charity. One thing and that's charity. We're going to have to love one another, going to have to do something for one another. The Bible said the proof that you've passed from death unto life is because you love the Brethren. If you love one another it's positive proof that you've passed from death unto life. If you don't have that then you haven't, because love is the only thing that's as strong as death. If I can love you as a Brother in Christ, and you can love me as a Brother in Christ, that's our proof that we've passed from death unto life. Is that right? Therefore, we ought to the more, praise one another. We ought to do it. We ought to praise one another, because you're doing it to bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. Paul said this is a secret, a man and a woman shall be one, no more twain, but one flesh. Said, This is a secret concerning the church, that we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We're His wife. We are no more twain. He doesn't give His glory to somebody else, but He gives it to His own body, His own wife. We are one, one flesh. That's the secret of the church. Do you understand what I'm saying? My mind and His mind becomes one mind. If a woman is properly given to her husband, what she will do all the days of her life, she'll seek to eradicate her mind, and dissolve her thoughts, and to change her concepts until she thinks like her husband, walks like her husband, acts like her husband. And when you see her you see him. When you see him you see her. That's the way it's suppose to be. Somebody said, Well, I sure don't want to be like the man I married. Well, I'll tell you what, you ought to have married somebody else. That's right. You ought to have married somebody else. I know some women ain't never going conform to no kind of man. Why you can't get them__ They've got too much of the devil to ever conform to anything that's like God. But I tell you this again, that the Scriptures are written in the behalf of the husband. Why? Wives, honor your husband. Obey your husband. Reverence your husband. Honor, obey in all things, and your faith in that spoken Word unto obedience in your life saves your soul. He's the head. He's the savior of the body. It's through him that you are saved. Now, honor one another. Love one another. By doing this we do it unto Jesus. If you'll just stay interested a little more now. I feel you all dying down. If you want to close out, we'll close out and go home. I got to where I don't care about wrestling with you about it. If you don't want it we'll close out and go home. I can tell just as good when the time comes up in your spirit; I can tell when it goes down. If you want to hear all right; if you don't we'll close out and go home. I've got it in my heart. If you don't want it I'm not going to worry about it. That's right. Jesus never tried to force it on anybody. He had it; He wanted to share it. I want to share it. If you want to have it all right. If you hunger and thirst after it He'll speak to you, but you can be sure when you stop hungering and thirsting Brother Pike might as well rack up and go home, because it's Him speaking and not me. And just as quick as you quit then it's like the babe nursing the breast, no more milk comes down. That's right. We're nursing from the breast of El Shaddai, the breasted one. All right, now, just to go a little further here just to see if you're going to feed any longer. I remind you again that God took Brother Branham away from his flock. He's taking shepherds everywhere away from the flock, because Brother Branham said the Spirit of the Lord said they won't feed anymore; go west. The Lord has got somebody else that wants to feed, so while you can feed. Feed. All right, now. What is it taking place? We are by divine transformation entering into the heavenly places. Now is made known to the church the manifold wisdom of the living God. Now, my Brother, you can think as God thinks. You can talk as God talks. You can live as God lives, and you can do as God does. Now is made known the church, Paul said. Paul said, I got a revelation. What is a revelation? The manifold wisdom of God. What is the manifold wisdom of God. I bring this back to your remembrance every once in a while. Solomon said if we keep searching we will find the knowledge of God. What is the knowledge of God? The manifold wisdom of God. What is the wisdom of God? It's the same understanding that Moses used when he opened up the earth. Do you follow me? It's the same wisdom that Elijah used when he caught the fiery chariot and went off to glory. It's the same wisdom that Enoch used when he got caught up in a whirlwind and went off to heaven. It's the same wisdom that God used and exercised when He hung the stars out in space, when He made the moon. When Joshua controlled the sun, that was the same wisdom. Do you understand what I'm saying? When the Red Sea rolled back. You say, How can he do that? Faith in that wisdom. Faith in your mind can make you go look for a job. Faith in your mind can make you go to work and eat steak when others don't have any meat at all to eat. Faith in the mind, or wisdom of God, can control the sun, can control the earth. There is no need of trying to have faith in something when you don't have anything to have faith in. Some people run all over the country and they're trying to have faith. They say, I believe, I believe. Say, What do you believe? I don't know what I believe, I just believe. Say, Do you believe in being baptized in Jesus name? Why of course not, I'm not Jesus only. Say, Well, what do you believe in? I don't know; I just believe. They say they can open blind eyes, and somebody say, Can they do it, Brother Pike? Of course they can. How can they do it? By transformation of the mind in the days that we're living in, by grace. Sure they can do it. Now, somebody said, Well, there is just one thing about it, the Bible teaches that no man can work a miracle and speak evil of Me. Where did you ever read that in the Bible? Where did you ever read that in the Bible? Some of you smart fellows, I know what you think. That's where you jump the gun, Brother Pike. You know the Bible says, and I know. No you don't know; you just think you know. The Bible never said that. Jesus said you couldn't do a miracle in His name and speak evil of Him. There's a whole lot of difference in doing it in His name. In that day, Lord, they'll say, We cast out devils in Your name. Is that right? Somebody said, Well, did they do it? No, they didn't do it. Said, We did many mighty things in Your name. Jesus said you worked iniquity; that's what you did. See? You confessed a lie. How many of you understand what I'm saying? So then, by divine transformation, that is by faith, if I come to the wisdom of God what can I do with it? I can become God. Come on. I can become God. Oh, somebody said, Brother Pike, you're crazy. All right. If that's true why is it that the Bible even speaks of Satan, himself. The Bible said that Satan, himself, came up into the presence of God, and even said that he would exalt himself above the stars in the heavens, and above God. Did he do it? How was he doing to do it? By the mind of God? Somebody said, Well, do you believe he's got the mind of God? There's a lot of things he desires to look into that he can't. But there's a whole lot of things that he knows. He's been listening to a lot of preachers for many years. And I'll tell you what, he's a better Sunday School listener than you are. He's a better church goer than you are. You come sometimes; he comes all the time. You listen sometime; he listens all the time. You just place a little value on what you hear; he things it's worth more than all the pearls in the ocean, and all the rubies and diamonds that's in the mines. He thinks it's worth more than that to get the knowledge of God. That's right. You can have all the pearls; he'd rather have the knowledge of God. People are foolish; they look on the outward things. How many of you understand what I'm saying? I think I'm going to stop here. I feel a little more interest. I felt it pick up, and I'm not stopping for that reason. I felt the interest pick up. And I've held you a good while tonight anyway. And I think I'm going to stop right there. There is a whole lot of things I would like to have said tonight, but it takes so long to be able to get across so little. I want that to dwell in your hearts and minds tonight, that having a gift does not prove that you are right with God. How many of you understand that? Jeanie Dixon has got a gift. That's no proof that she's right with God. That is no proof. She said God talks to her; God tells her what to do. Balaam had a gift; that was no proof that he was right with God. Is that right? Having prestige, having money, having praise, having fame is no proof of being right with God; from such turn away. I'm going to say this in closing tonight. I don't have any desire for prestige, or fame, or popularity, or riches. Now, here is the reason why I don't. First of all__ I'm just going to take a minute, or two, here. But I think it absurd for anybody to want somebody to praise them. Now, you say, Well, Brother Pike, that make you feel like somebody; that makes you feel good. All right, now after you get through feeling like somebody, and feeling good, what have you done? Come on now. Somebody praise us, ten thousand people say, Glory to Brother Pike, glory to Brother Pike, so I feel good. I feel good. I feel fine. I feel fine. And when it's all over what have I done? I mean, what did it amount to? What is it? Somebody said, Well. Well, what? I mean what is it? It's foolish. You feel just as sick, you feel just as bad, you feel just as laden. You're still just an old corruptible body that's going down to the dust. You're a nobody. I mean, what is it if everybody praises you? See? It absurd. It's no good. It's vanity. Praise and glory and honor belongs to God. Why does it belong to God? Because there is a purpose in praise. There is a purpose in glorifying God. God is the object of worship. God is a spirit. God is life, and when you praise God you get bigger and greater and stronger, healthier, happier, richer, more powerful. That's why you praise Him. It becoming to praise God. I mean there is something to it. You praise a man it's nothing, but you praise God, and it is made to praise, it's for a benefit, it's for a reason. I mean when I think in my mind, this is the way I think. Things have got to make sense to me. I don't know how you think, but to me, I've got to live in a world where things make sense. And it doesn't make sense to me for an individual to be raised up to be praised. It doesn't make sense. Somebody said, Well, Brother Pike, you said praise one another. You're a double tongue. No, I'm not. Paul said, they glorified Christ within me. You praise one another to be praising Christ, and if your motive isn't for that reason you're silly. I mean you're silly. To be going around and praising a man you are nothing less than silly. You should praise because Christ is there. And if you go around resenting the body of Jesus Christ you're even more foolish than the man that said it, because you're coming against the Almighty God. See? It doesn't make sense, folks. In my world it's got to make sense. It makes sense to me to praise God. It just makes sense to me to praise God. I say again, because He is life, He is hope, and He is that which you praise to live. In other words, just drinking water, it like I pick up this glass, it makes sense when you pick up that glass and drink that water. And that's what God is. He's life, and the way you drink Him in is to praise Him. He's everlasting. He never gives out, and you become one with Him. And it's just one hallelujah altogether, just one big hallelujah in drinking in God. But to me it's nothing less__ I better not even use that word. But it's foolish. It's foolish. To worship man it is foolish; it doesn't make sense. If you could have all the glory, if you could have all the praise, if they could set you up on a throne, and they could praise you, and fall down at your feet, and say, Glory, glory, glory, glory, you'd set there like some knot on a log, and when they got through it's the silliest thing that I ever heard of in my life. It just doesn't make sense at all to me. I just as soon go out there and find me a knot on a log and say, Hail! Glory! Hail! Glory! Hail! Glory! It would amount to just as much if I found me a knot on a log to bow down to and say, Hail! Glory! Hail! Glory! I don't see a bit of difference in the heathen over yonder going worshipping stumps, or going worshipping crosses, or going over there somewhere and worshipping a totem pole. I don't see any difference. I mean, what's the difference? I don't see any difference. So then, it makes sense to worship that which is to be worshipped. It makes sense. It just thrills ne to think about worshipping God. See? In my way of understanding there is a thrill to me to think about God, and worshipping God. It's sickening to me to think about somebody worshipping me, or me worshipping somebody. That's a sickening sort of feeling, because I know it doesn't get any farther than the front door. There is nothing to it. There's nothing lasting, nothing extensive about it. It all fall flat, but when I think about God, I think of what He is, and who He is, and that He is everything to be praised and to worship, and to love. And I think, Well, it's just so wonderful. God I'm so glad You're God. It just fits You. Have you ever thought of it like that? I think, God, I'm glad You're God, because it just fits you to be God. That doesn't make sense, does it? But it does in my thinking. It just pleases me because He's God, Brother Bill. It pleases me because He's God because it just fits Him to be God. It doesn't fit anybody else to be God, but it fits Him to be God. That's why Jesus Christ is God. It fits Jesus Christ to be God. He is the maker of all things, the creator of all things, and it just fits Him to be God, that's all. I can't tell you what I'm thinking. There is no way to express it. I can't get it out in words. You'll just have to have it revealed to you, have to, you know, try to understand it. There is just no words of expression to tell you what I'm thinking, what I'm understand, or the way I see the thing. There is just no way. I just stumble and stagger in trying to explain to you. But, I'll tell you what, if you can see it the way I see it it's joy unspeakable and full of glory, because it really makes sense. I tell you it's real. You just get around sometimes and set down and think it out, and you just set yourself upon a throne, and you become God, you know, and see what kind of world that is. Boy, I tell you, that will be a drab, lonesome place. I'm telling you it would. It would be a drab lonesome place. If I thought of some of you out there tonight, if you were going to be God, and you were doing to set out there, I tell you what, I'd say heaven is going to be a drab, lonesome place. Because Brother Taylor can't even get you to say Hallelujah, hardly. But God don't have to pump up a hallelujah. He is a hallelujah. I mean, He is joy. He is peace. He is life. He is inspiration. He doesn't have to pump up nothing. Can you hear my voice? If you are my sheep you can hear my voice. You know, and understand what I'm saying. He is to be praised. He is to be praise. He is God. Let's stand together. You know, I know sometimes I don't make sense to you, but I make sense to me. And I guess as long as I understand it, well, that's all right. At least, there is one that understands it if I understand it. I'm sure that somebody else that does. Let's love one another. Let's love one another. Paul said in a good work I praise you, because that's Christ showing forth in your life. How wonderful. How wonderful. Let's sing the little chorus, Brother Taylor, To Be like Jesus. (Singing.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord