What If Adam Hadn't Sinned by Herbert W. Armstrong

What If Adam Hadn't Sinned?

Sermon Date: June 13, 1981

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Brethren, after speaking here on last Sabbath, I spoke to a group of virtually 3,000 — or 2800 — of our people up at Stockton on the Day of Pentecost, which was the next day or last Sunday. And on next Sabbath, God willing, I hope to be speaking to a still larger group of our brethren; and we expect about 5,000 in Cincinnati, Ohio. We should, perhaps, find a larger facility than at any local center like that outside of Feast of Tabernacles in Cincinnati. We're expecting it to be a larger crowd than we had in either Big Sandy when we had a very large crowd, or Chicago, or New York. As long as God is willing and gives me the strength, I expect to continue just about every other week (if I'm not traveling abroad or somewhere) to be speaking in groups in other parts of this country and Canada.

I had a telephone call last night from my executive assistant, Bob Fahey, who is in Manila in the Philippines. I had had to send Mr. Fahey and Gerald Waterhouse over there; and we had also asked Mr. (Why can't I think of our own people's names?) from Canada, who was a former pastor in the Philippines, to fly on over there and join them. They'd had a little trouble, and they were getting a little static from certain local elders. There seemed to be a division forming in the Church in the Philippines.

Brethren, the apostle Paul was inspired to say that we must all speak the same things. We must be together. There can be no division in the Church of God. So immediately I sent them over there. We know that the trouble in the world is people get to looking at people. People can deal with things, but they can't deal with people. And so it seems that they look to other people, and they can't get along with them, and this and that and the other thing happens. Very often it's only a misunderstanding, and a misunderstanding will develop feelings.

Now, our brethren are trained to look to Christ. He is the head of the Church. That is how we remain together. We all speak the same thing, but it must be the thing that Christ speaks. He is the head of the Church. And when we take our eyes off of Christ, we are like Peter. Christ was walking on the water on the Sea of Galilee; and Peter and some of the apostles were in a boat, and Christ came walking on the water towards them. Well, Peter wanted to try it. Christ told him, "Well, come on. Come on and walk." And he did! And, lo and behold, Peter was walking on the water; and it seemed like the water was holding him like a firm piece of ground or a pavement under him. That is, for just a moment or so.

And then, you know what happened? He took his eyes off of Jesus. As soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked down at the water, he began to sink. Now that is the trouble with so many of us. As soon as we just forget a little bit and take our eyes off of Christ, the first thing you know we begin to sink; and we get into trouble.

Well, I have very good news. Bob told me last night that they got over. They prayed. They had the former minister and the present minister get together. They said, "Now, you two get together. You pray about it, and you discuss this thing and see where we stand. And remember that Christ is the head of the Church." So they went out and let those two alone, and they got together. As soon as they got their eye on Christ, they quit sinking. They began to walk on the water, and the waters weren't troubled any longer.

Now we found that there's nothing but a sort of a misunderstanding. Neither minister had done wrong. The one minister has been transferred to Canada. The other is in the Philippines. And we really needed to get our eyes on Christ a little bit. Any of us can make that mistake — of getting our eyes off of Christ and getting it on troubled waters. I just wanted to say that, because that has happened in the last two or three days.

When our eyes are on Christ, and as long as WE PLEASE CHRIST, we have peace, the Church goes ahead, we are prospered, and Christ blesses this Church and this Work. Now the Church was not being blessed. For thirty-five years this Church did go along as an increase in membership and, well, just about everything (in the amount of radio time and even getting up into the beginning of television, in number of Churches, and in income) at the rate of 30% every year over the year before.

That's means we were doubling our size and the impact of our power and growth every two and approximately two-third years. We were multiplying our size and the impact of our efforts eight times in eight years and sixty-four times in just sixteen years. I don't know of any record like that in any organization, any society, or even (in commercial business) in a company. Most businesses (if you notice) in the commercial world, they stand about the same place year after year until they finally fold up, or go bankrupt, or quit. The average store, the average business, is no bigger today than it was five years or ten years ago.

But the Work of God cannot stand still. We must go ahead. And for about twelve years this Work was not going ahead. Thank God, He didn't let it go backwards; but it still did not go ahead. And between two and three years ago, I found this Church was sadly off the track; and I've been working very hard to get it back on the track, and we are back on the track.

Now I'm glad to tell you that I just had a report, yesterday afternoon late, that the income for this month is already going up somewhere around ... let me see, I think it's around 40% so far; and for the year it is 22% and it's climbing up. It looks like we may make up to 30% this year over last year, and get back on the track once again. It is over 30% in Canada. It is over 30% in Australia, and New Zealand, South Africa, England, Germany, and many other places around the world.

The one factor, more than anything we do, is the matter of whether or not we are pleasing Jesus Christ. He's not only the head of the Church. He's not human. He is divine. He is God. He is the One who has THE POWER. If we have any power, it's only power that comes from Him and power that He gives us. Let us remember that. Let's keep our eyes on Christ. Let's keep Him in our lives every moment of every day.

I want to speak along that line today. I want to say, though, that the most important new knowledge that God has revealed and that's come into the Church in years is the clear understanding of the incident of the forbidden fruit back in the Garden of Eden. I've been speaking quite a little on that subject, and I thought yesterday "Well, what will I speak about now this Sabbath?" I said, "Well, the brethren will get weary and they'll say 'Well, is Mr. Armstrong going to harp on that same question all the time?" Well, I decided: "You bet I am!"

We haven't exhausted that subject at all. We haven't begun with it yet. I haven't exhausted this new understanding that has been recently revealed, and so we will continue until we do.

Brethren, WHAT IF ADAM had taken of the Tree of Life? I wonder if you realize what that would have meant? You'd be living in a totally different world today. If Adam had taken the Tree of Life (instead of taking to himself fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), let me tell you, we wouldn't have the system of education we have in our schools, colleges, and universities today at all. We would have a far different and a far better one. And we might even find parents teaching their own children anyway, which we might find would have been a much better way.

We wouldn't have the system of commerce and business we have in this world today at all. It wouldn't be anything like it is today. Do you know there wouldn't be any tobacco industry today if Adam had taken the Tree of Life? Do you know there wouldn't be any medical profession today? And all the doctors and nurses are at work with something, and they'd be doing something more profitable IF Adam had taken of the Tree of Life. DO YOU REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT THAT DECISION WAS, THAT ADAM MADE AT THAT TIME?

Do you know we wouldn't have the kind of governments in this world that we have? We wouldn't have the kind of politics that we have, and people blaming the government for everything. They want to get everything from the government; and the government wants to get everything from us, doesn't it? It's all the same. Everything is "get" — get from everybody else. No, we wouldn't have this kind of government.

We wouldn't have the kind of society we have, and we wouldn't have the kind of sports we have. We wouldn't have the kinds of amusements and entertainments we have. You wouldn't have this kind of a life at all! Now I'm going to say something about that later, because God has called us out of this kind of life. And I think we don't understand or realize that fully, and many of us have not come out of this kind of life. We're STILL PART OF IT! And God says "COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE." Well, brethren, when are we going to do it?

Yes, what if Adam had taken of the Tree of Life? Well, let's begin all over again because there's an awful lot more to say on this subject. If means everything in our lives! Everything! The WHOLE WORLD would have been different!

Now we have to realize that God is the Source of our existence, such as we have; and God is the Source of life, and God is the Creator, and God is creating righteous, perfect, spiritual character in separate entities that He has created. (Of course, He created angels first. I won't need to go back into that today.) But He created man.

Now, what about God? We read of God in John 1:1-4, and we find two personages mentioned there.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word. [Now the Word was a personage.], and the Word was with God, [And God is a personage. So you have the two personages.] ... (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him [the Word].

But in verse 14 we read that the Word was made flesh, ultimately. That was only about 1900 and let's see, '50, '60, '70, '80 years ago; but at that time God became the Father and the Word became the Son. But in Genesis 1:1 we read:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning [Elohim] ...

The Hebrew word was Elohim, meaning more than one person but forming one God. Now, They're not two Gods. They're two personages, but They form God. Now God is not a person. God is A FAMILY, and God is consisting of more than one person. God is reproducing Himself. It is a Family reproducing itself and adding to the Family.

I am the father of a family. I've become the father of four children, and now grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren. By reproduction, a family will grow, and grow, and grow. And Adam's family did grow until there have become billions of people on earth today. About four billion now; and, if you take all of the other billions that have lived in past years, there are a great many billion that have lived since Adam.

And so we find that in the beginning was God, and God is more than one person. The Hebrew word is Elohim; and Elohim is a uni-plural, meaning more than one person — and that simply included the one who was God and the one who was the Word. And they have, since Christ was born, become the Father and the Son. But they are both God; and God is a Family, and God is not one person.

You and I should have been already begotten into that Family. And we shall ... If we overcome, if we are filled with the Spirit of God, if we grow (in knowledge and character, in grace, in spiritual character) and endure until the end — we shall also become members of the God Family. We shall be God in the sense that we are part of the God Family, the same as the Father is and the Son is now.

And so God said: "Let Us make man in Our image (Genesis 1:26), after Our likeness." Not "Let Me." "Let Us." There was more than one person involved in Elohim. But God did not make man as He had made angels or as God was composed. God is a Spirit. John 4:24 Anyway, God is composed of Spirit. He did not form man out of Spirit. He formed man out of the dust of the ground. And so, in Genesis 2:7 we read:

Genesis 2:7 And the [Eternal] God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

What was formed out of the ground became a soul. A soul came out of the ground; therefore, a soul is matter and not spirit. A soul is matter and not spirit!

Now, let me give you first now ... It's very necessary at this point that we understand something I hadn't been bringing out quite a thoroughly as I would like to. What is the difference between animal and man? If you go back just a few verses:

Genesis 1:24-25 God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature [or land animals] after his kind, cattle and the creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (25) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind [and so on].

Each animal reproduces after its kind: dogs after the dog kind, elephants after the elephant kind. But He said "Let Us make man AFTER THE GOD KIND." Man was made after the God kind, and man is different from animals!

Now then, I want to take a little bit of time this afternoon to get into this matter of what is this difference between an animal and a man. Man is not an animal! The educated are trying to tell us that man is only the highest of the animals in the process of evolution. Man is not an animal, not an animal at all! There's a great difference.

Animals have brains. Animals have eyes like humans do. Animals have ears to hear with. Some of their hearing is much better than human hearing too, let me tell you. And animals have mouths and they can eat, and they can taste food like we can. They can smell, and animals have a sense of feel through nerves. Now, so does man. And the only way that knowledge can enter through a man — into a man's mind — is through the eye, the ear, the nose, the mouth (the sense of taste), or the sense of feel and touch. He's not different from an animal in that respect.

He is different from an animal in the fact he's made in the form and shape of God. Let me give you one illustration: the hands of a man. No animal has anything like human hands. Look at what human hands make. I have a watch here, which keeps just virtually perfect time. Human hands made this. I have another watch that was hand made, not machine made; but even hands made the machine.

What animal could make a computer? What animal could form and make a watch out of matter? No animal could do that with hoofs, or claws, or paws, or whatever an animal has. They don't have a human hand. No animal could play a harp, or a piano, or a violin. Just think of what the human hand can do. An animal couldn't even operate a typewriter like we can. And I do a great deal of that myself, because I do my own writing on a typewriter — all the writing you read from me.

Now an animal has a brain, and a human has a brain; but there's a great, vast difference. Humans are made in the image, the form and shape, of God. God has hands, and God has feet and toes. Animals don't. We are in a different form and shape than animals. We are made out of the same substance as animals. We get the same kind of life as animals — by the circulation of blood, and by a heart pumping blood, and by the breath of air. So do animals! What is the difference? Well, in that respect, none; but there's a difference in form and shape. And an animal cannot do what a man can because it doesn't have hands. It cannot do what a man can because it doesn't have a mind. It has a brain.

Now we come to another difference between man and animal. And let me tell you something. For example, did you ever see a little calf born? If you've lived on a farm in the country, you have. I was not brought up in the country, but I had cousins about my age that were, and aunts and uncles; and we visited them down on the farm quite often. I've seen a calf born. I've also seen babies born. I've seen three of my four children born. And I'll tell you, there's quite a difference.

When I saw a calf born, it was able in less than five minutes (It might have been 2, 3, 4 minutes.) to get up on its four legs and walk. I've seen babies born, and they don't learn to walk for about a year. Look at the difference! Now I saw the calf, as soon as it got on its feet (in less than 5 minutes), it began to walk, and it knew where to go, and it knew what to do, and went for its dinner. And the stupid old cow, mother, just stood there stupidly by instinct waiting for the newborn calf to go for its dinner.

I saw one movie one time where the calf was going to the wrong end for the dinner, and the mother just whipped around and shoved it back to the right end. That was a real funny movie; but it was caught in action, and not trained. It just happened that way. Anyway, there is a difference.

Now a newborn human doesn't know how to go for its dinner. A calf doesn't have to be told how to suck on the tits of the cow mother. It just knows how — BY INSTINCT! But humans are not equipped with instinct. Humans are equipped with mind, and the human has to be taught how to even suck its mother's breast. The human has to be taken care of. We have to put diapers on little humans for a while until we teach them how to go to the toilet for themselves, and that takes a little teaching.

They have to learn EVERYTHING, and everything they do has to be actuated by a mind; and an animal doesn't have that kind of mind. An animal can't think. It can be taught certain things by repetition, but it can't think. Humans can think, even for themselves; but they need to be taught also. But humans have to be taken care of. Now the human has a mind to think with. An animal doesn't. An animal only has a brain, and there's quite a difference. That is another difference between man and animals.

Now I said that man was made to have a relationship with God, but he was also made to have a relation with his fellow — with other humans. Man was equipped with what we call "mind." Now that originates in the brain. The human brain is precisely like the animal brain. The elephant, the whale, the dolphin have larger brains than humans; and they're just as good in quality. And they are larger, but they can't think like humans. They don't have the mental output of a human. They can't reason. They can't think creatively. But they do have instinct, and they know automatically what they need to do. They take care of themselves. A human is helpless. He can't take care of himself. A little child has to have parents to take care of him, or somebody, because he's helpless. He can't take care of himself.

Now, let me tell you something, there's another way in which we never when we grow up have been able to take care of ourselves. (I'm coming to that.) I want you to get this point and the difference between man and animals. A man has a mind, and it takes time for that mind to grow and develop until he comes to maturity. A human being only comes to a sort of pre-maturity at about age sixteen or seventeen. Until then, a child — a human child — only thinks about fun. That's all his life is, just having fun. That's what kids think about.

Along about sixteen or seventeen, they begin to think a little bit seriously about life for the first time. Now that's only part of their thinking. That's not all of it. They don't suddenly change into thinking about serious adult things; but they begin to think part of the time about more adult things and about life. By eighteen they begin to think a little more seriously about life. By age twenty-five the average human has come to a place of maturity of mind where he's more or less mentally set in his ways, and after that it's a little bit harder to begin to change his mind and change his ways.

A human has not developed into the place (and I will speak now of the male sex primarily in this regard) where he is recognized by others as an adult and where he might have some leadership over others until age thirty; and you'll notice that Jesus did not start His ministry until He was about thirty years of age. Now those are just some things that I have noticed in life, along the way, about human development.

The human mind has to be developed. The human body had to be developed from a tiny size of a pinpoint, of an ovum fertilized by a male sperm from the body of our father. And it had to be fed on physical food out of the ground to grow into a material being made from the dust of the ground; and it has a mind. But what gives man mind-power when animals have the same kind of brain (and some even larger) and still can't think and reason like a human can? What, then, is the difference?

Well, we turn over to one place (I'll tell you) in Job 32:8. "There is a spirit in man." You can't find any place were the Bible says there is a spirit in animals — in a cow, or a turkey, or an elephant. But THERE IS A SPIRIT IN MAN, and that spirit empowers the physical brain with materialist intellect; and I say "materialistic intellect" because that's all it does. That's all it does.

Man is made in the image, the form and shape, of God; and man is made with a mind, which an animal doesn't have. That is the way in which man is different from an animal. He has a mind like God. He's in the form and shape of God. He has hands, for example, which an animal does not have. MAN WAS MADE TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD; but he was also made to have a relationship with his fellows, with his neighbors, with his children and other people's children as the earth became populated.

Now, God made man incomplete! GOD MADE MAN WITH A SPIRIT. (I'll go into more of that again, and I have before, and before, and you should already know that.) God made man with a spirit, but that spirit can't think. That spirit can't see. The human physical brain sees through the physical eye. It hears through the human physical ear. The spirit in man can't do the thinking. The physical brain thinks. But the spirit is like a computer; and what knowledge comes into the brain — through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the sense of feel and touch — is instantly programmed into the spirit. The spirit then contains the memory. It gives instant recall, and that instant recall the human brain puts together in a process we call reasoning and thinking; and an animal can't do that. That is the difference.

But ALL that it can reason, and ALL that the human mind and brain naturally (as Adam was created, and as you and I were born) is to think about physical material things! We can even think about people, but we don't know how to conduct ourselves with people. We can't deal with people. We are made with a mind that can deal only intelligently with things and cannot deal intelligently with people.

It was made to deal with God and to have a contact and a connection with God. Animals were not! Now, I want you to get this difference. Man needed another spirit. He was made incomplete, and in his mind man is mentally only half there. I have said that the most ignorant people on earth are the ones with the greatest education and the most PhDs, or MDs, or other doctor degrees after their names. The more of this world's education you have, the more ignorant you are because that education is 100% materialistic and physical — because the human mind can't see spirit or spiritual things. It can't reason about spiritual things; and in our contact with God and our contact with neighbor (with other humans) we are dealing with spiritual equations, not merely with materialistic equations. We are dealing with spiritual principles.

Now, that gives us some idea about the world that had been developed. Man needed another spirit. He's only half there mentally. Now man was offered LIFE through the Holy Spirit. If he had taken of the Tree of Life, he would have received Life. But how does God impart Life to human beings? God imparts Life to human beings only through the Holy Spirit. Adam would not have had immortal Life just "bang" right off like that. God created angels like that, and they did not make the right choice (a third of them).

God was not going to let man have immortal Life until man had already learned to LIVE that way — in the way that he could get along with other people and with God. He had to have a rightrelationship with his neighbors and with God.

Now all of our troubles come in dealing with other people, and because we can't deal with God, and because men have lost all contact with God. They are cut off from God's wavelength, but they are on Satan's wavelength. Now all the time you have to remember that there was Satan on the throne of the world, and Adam was created in a manner that his mind was on Satan's wavelength materialistically. It could have been on God's wavelength if he had taken of the Tree of Life. God offered it freely.

Now when the Holy Spirit comes, which would have happened to Adam, the first thing the Holy Spirit gives you is knowledge. The first thing the Holy Spirit does is to open your mind to the way of God, the way of Life — your relationship towards God and your relationship towards neighbor. That is THE LAW OF GOD. The law of God is a way of Life, and the law of God is out-flowing love to God and to neighbor.

And it is because we don't do that and don't have that ability to have that kind of love towards God and towards neighbor that mankind has had all of his problems and all of his troubles. Look at the world that has developed. I'll go into that a little more in just a minute, but I want you to notice: man has been cut off from the ability and the power for a relationship with God and a relationship with his neighbor.

Now, just as the newborn baby needs help from and guidance from a parent and teaching from a parent, so even does an adult human needs teaching from and guidance from and help from God; and without it he is helpless, especially in his problems which are spiritual in nature. He needs contact with God. He needs guidance and help from God. For example, in Psalm 34:19:

Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD [The Eternal, or God]delivers him out of them all.

We get into trouble, and we don't know how to get out of it; and the way to get out of it is we need the help of God. A little baby gets into trouble, and it needs the help of the parent. Now just before I came out here this afternoon, there was a little boy who started running. He started running right out here on the stage, and his father had to come running after him. He needed a little bit of help and guidance. So did you and I when we were that age.

We have to have help and guidance; and God is not only one who guides us, but God is one who will help us when we get in trouble. We need God to reach down and take hold of us and help us, just like a little child needs someone to put on its diapers and take them off and put on a clean pair; and to feed it and take care it; and it needs the guidance of a parent or an older person. And all humans have needed that guidance from God.

But when Adam took to himself the knowledge of good and evil, he took that to himself. Now, if he had taken of the Tree of Life, the first thing would have been the knowledge of the law of God, which is THE WAY to good and to avoid evil. In other words, the first thing he would have gotten from the Tree of Life would have been spiritual as well as material knowledge. What did Adam take? He took to himself the knowledge. He didn't want to get it from God. He didn't want help from God. He said, "I'll take care of myself."

It's just like a little boy, who says, "I'll run out there. I'll take care of myself, I don't need a father to help me." And man is like that yet! He's a conceited, great big ass. That's what he is. He thinks he can take care of himself. He says, "God, get out of here. What are You trying to get from me? Get Your nose out of my business, God. I don't want anything to do with You."

When Adam made that choice, he cut himself off from God! And most humans have cut themselves off from God through sin ever since. Your sins have cut you off from God. And man is on Satan's wavelength, and ALL have sinned and been cut off from God. But when Adam made that choice and instead of taking the Holy Spirit, which he would have had from God that would have first given him knowledge of the SPIRITUAL LAW — the way of Life: love toward God and love out-going out-flowing towards neighbor ... In other words, I help my neighbor. My neighbor helps me. We kind of help one another mutually. And, if we get into trouble, we go to God.

Now, we had trouble over in the Philippines. What did we do? If people tried to solve that by themselves, it would only have blown up into a bigger thing; and the whole Church over there would have been blown up by today. But, no — WE NEEDED HELP! WE WENT TO GOD FOR IT. God straightened it out right away, and all is harmony and peace. Of course, they've had their service today long ago. As a matter of fact, when Mr. Fahey called me last evening our time, it was just ...

As a matter of fact it was during the Bible Study, which I was looking at on my own television set. Whatever you do here when I'm not here, I'm looking at you anyway at home. I've got my own television hook-up, and I can see what all is going on. But anyway, he was just getting ready to go to the afternoon service — this afternoon already over in the Philippines, because it was already this afternoon over there (only it was only last night here). And they were going to have a fine service, and all was going to be harmony. Why? Because we looked to God, and we had THE HELP that we needed FROM HIM!

You can't live your life alone without God! Human beings are helpless trying to get along without God, as a little child is without a parent. I want you to get that comparison and realize it. Yes, many are our problems and troubles all through life; but we need the guidance of God, and He will deliver us out of all of our troubles.

Now Life — as this Tree of Life — meant the Holy Spirit, of course. It meant spiritual knowledge. Man doesn't have spiritual knowledge. He only has materialistic knowledge: all that can come through the material senses of the eye, the ear, the senses of smell, feel, and touch — material knowledge. But his problems are spiritual in nature, and he has no knowledge of spiritual things. He would have received knowledge had he had the Holy Spirit. Then he would have received also "the love of God shed abroad in our hearts"by the Holy Spirit.

Now once he received this knowledge of the law of God, that's the WAY OF LIFE. That's the knowledge that is the right knowledge of what is good and what is evil. And that way is fulfilled by LOVE. Love is the fulfilling of the law, but that is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit; and God would have given him that love, and that is GOD'S LOVE. It is not a love that Adam was born with. Adam didn't have that kind of love.

Adam said, "I'll just manufacture my own knowledge. I'll manufacture my own love. I don't need faith in God, or from God. I have faith in myself — self-confidence, look what a great guy I am. Look what I can do. I'll go on my own power." He should have received faith — the faith of Christ — from the Holy Spirit. He should have received power from God. The love of God to fulfill the law. He didn't get any of those things, so he couldn't fulfill the law of God. And when you break that law, you get in trouble; and man ...

... of good health, and you have to have drive to energize and to push yourself on. Some people are just lackadaisical. They don't ... You know, they just take it easy; and they don't drive themselves at all. If you get anywhere in this life, you have to really have drive on yourself.

Now, the next one is resourcefulness — the next of the laws of success. When you get in trouble, it's the resourcefulness to find the way around it; but man doesn't have that resourcefulness in his troubles. He needs to get that from God, and he needs guidance from God. When you get down to it, all of these things he needs to get from God. I think now that I need to write that booklet on "The Seven Laws of Success" all over again. I'll add a little something to it I didn't have in it.

Finally, it is enduring to the end. In other words, sticking to it — endurance, tenacity, and just don't give up (because just a little more and it can turn what appears to be a hopeless failure into an overwhelming success). But you would get knowledge, love, faith, power, all of these attributes FROM GOD; that God would pour in through the Holy Spirit.

Now, as was explained in the sermon in the morning service, of how God pours the Holy Spirit. He will pour it into us. It is like water. Jesus said, "If any of you thirst, come to Me and drink." The man who thirsts, out of his innermost being will flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATER; but it has to come first from God. It flows into him.

Now man has one spirit. But man is like an electric ... Now, let me see. I have an electric light here. I don't know whether you can see it or not, but there is a double wire coming in here. They are joined together, but there are two wires there. (Two wires coming in there.) One electric wire alone wouldn't give us any light. You have to have a return circuit, and it takes two. Well, it takes the two spirits in man; and also the love of God, and faith in God and in Christ. And all of that has to come FROM GOD, and then it flows back to Him again on the return circuit.

But man needed both, just like you can't get a light (you can't get electric power) without the two; and man only has the one spirit. As in electricity, you have to have the two wires coming in. But man only has the one spirit until God gives him the Holy Spirit.

Now the other tree (It wasn't offered to Adam. God forbade him to take it.) was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And that was man creating his own knowledge with his carnal mind with the one spirit, which limits him to physical knowledge. And he can't know anything about spiritual principles, about spiritual dealing with other people or with God. He needed the other Spirit.

All right, let's turn over now to I Corinthians 2 once again. I've gone into this before, where Paul says:

I Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man [or, that is, into the human mind] the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

In other words, spiritual knowledge cannot come through the eye, or the ear, or the sense of smell, taste, or feel. You can't see spirit. You can't hear it. You can't feel it. It doesn't vibrate. You can't hear it. You can't see it. It has no odor. You can't smell it. You can't taste it or feel it. And yet some people have a feeling of emotion, and they think that's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is NOT a feeling! The Holy Spirit is NOT an emotion!

Now sometimes, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, there is an emotional content; and there ought to be. But that is minimal compared with what it really means in the way of enlightening the mind, and giving you the love of God, and the faith of Christ, and the power, and the things that you need, and guidance from God. No, with your eye, your ear, the five sense, you can't know the spiritual things, or the things of God, or spiritual knowledge you need even to deal with other people.

I Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them unto us ...

But he's talking here to Christians, in the Church. God did NOT reveal it to Adam. He WOULD HAVE if Adam had taken the Tree of Life; but Adam didn't. Now then:

I Corinthians 2:10 God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

The Holy Spirit is open to some of us now, and has been since Christ; but not after Adam had made the wrong choice.

I Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him?

A man, well ... Let's say a chimpanzee, a dolphin — they're smart animals. An elephant, a whale — they cannot know the things a man knows. They don't have human knowledge because there's no spirit in them to impart that to them. They just have physical brain only. That's how man differs from animal.

I Corinthians 2:11 Even so the things of God [Or SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE that we need for a contact with God and a contact with our neighbors. That kind of knowledge.] knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Except by the Spirit of God, you cannot have that knowledge; and man doesn't have that knowledge! Our wisest men, our best educated men, do NOT have that knowledge! That knowledge is revealed through the Holy Spirit. Adam did not take that Spirit (that Tree) that was offered to him.

I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God [or spiritual knowledge]: for they are foolishness unto him: [He just can't even ... ] know them, because they are spiritually discerned [and revealed through the Holy Spirit, which Adam would have had if he had taken it].

Now Adam did not take it. Adam chose the other Tree. He chose to go it alone by himself. It's like a little child saying, "I won't have any help from my parent. I'll just take care of everything myself." And man is helpless in his problems and his troubles and doesn't know why. So Adam took to self the knowledge of the right way and the wrong way, of what is the good and what is evil. Man decides what is righteousness and what is sin, and he decides the way. So man has materialistic knowledge ONLY, and he is confined to materialistic knowledge. So he's able to deal with matter and with things, but not with people or with God. He's cut off. He's cut himself off from God.

Now he is as helpless as a newborn baby, as I've said — to work with other people; to have peace, contentment, happiness of mind; and to have a contact with God. We read now in Romans 8 and verse 7:

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind [which Adam chose, and which mankind has had every since — the carnal mind] is enmity against God [that is, hostile. Enmity means hostile, or hostility towards God and against God.]: for it is not subject to the law of God [which is outpouring love to God and your neighbor], neither indeed can be.

It just is not and cannot be. Now THE WHOLE WORLD has been cut off from God and from the knowledge to solve man's problems or to deal with one another. He's cut off from God, and he can't even deal with his neighbor. THAT IS THE KIND OF WORLD YOU'VE BEEN BORN IN! And people think this is God's world, and people think this is a pretty good world. Oh, they don't know how rotten it is!

And they don't know how wonderful the World Tomorrow will be when all of the people in it have a contact with God, and have the Spirit of God so they can be deal in harmony, and peace, and love with one another. When a misunderstanding comes, they'll both go to God; and God will straighten it right out. (Just like He's straighten out, in the last two days, the situation over in the Philippine Islands. We have Churches all over the Philippines, and a number of Churches over there.)

So now we go back (and I've read it to you so many times before; but I want to go back once again) to the 3rd chapter now of Genesis and the last three verses:

Genesis 3:22-24 So the [Eternal] God said ... now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever [and gain IMMORTALITY, and immortal life while he's going the wrong way and only has one spirit; and he'd chosen to live his own way]: (23) Therefore the [Eternal] God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life [and prevent people from getting the Tree of Life.].

So God shut the Spirit of Life off from man! Now, in God is LIFE. In Christ, the Word, was LIFE. Christ came and He had Life in Himself. He said, "I am come that they might have Life." So it remained for the Second Adam to come and bring Life. The first Adam failed. But Christ said, "I have come that they might have Life and have it more abundantly."

The whole world, then, was cut off from God. It had some knowledge of God, but no spirit content or connection with God. Now how has man's world developed since Adam? Let's just take a minute for that. For about 5,000 years the world went along on a pretty even keel. Transportation had to be walking, or on horseback, or mule-back, or a camel. Yes, or an elephant. Some of them do ride elephants I guess in some parts of the world. Or they would go by a rowboat or a sailboat.

There was very little knowledge. There was no printing. The only way that they could transmit anything by writing one to another was by writing out by hand; and their books had to be written, just one book written one page at a time and one book. No printing! Just think of that.

Education didn't developed. But they did develop a world cut off from God; and it was a world half illiterate and ignorant, almost half starvation (many starving), living in filth and squalor. Now the last century and a half, the world seems to have awakened a little bit materialistically. And we've come to the time of modern science and technology, modern education. And it's all since the printing press, when we have had more of the diffusion of knowledge, especially in the western world. It didn't reach the old world of China very much, or India, or many parts of Africa. It didn't even reach parts of South America.

Now, man in the western world has had what we look on as AWESOME PROGRESS in materialistic production; but EVERYTHING that he thinks is great and awesome that man has done has been materialistic in dealing with matter. Man can deal with things. He can deal with things out of the earth. But he can't deal with people. Man has been able to even solve getting up out of the earth's atmosphere and going to the moon and back, and coming back without being burned up as he comes back through the atmosphere. But a man goes to the moon, comes back, and then breaks up with his family because he can't get along with (I don't know.) it's either his wife, his children, or something. The whole family is broken up, and they are in trouble.

Man has great progress MATERIALISTICALLY; but he has nothing but RETROGRESSION when it comes to dealing with man, and no connection with God (even after Christ came). Now when did all this thing happen? Men cannot deal with people! He's out of contact with (or help from) the Creator, which he needed. Now man has developed the hydrogen bomb. Man has developed the engines of destruction that can become the Frankenstein monsters that destroy man! And now, it's a fearsome thing.

And NBC, I believe it is, is going to have a program (I didn't get the date. Whether that's tonight, tomorrow night, or Monday night — I didn't catch.) on if a hydrogen bomb hit Omaha, Nebraska, what would happen? Any of you from Omaha or let's say Sioux City, Iowa, Des Moines, or Kansas City? They would all be affected if a hydrogen bomb hit Omaha. It's going to be a frightful thing! And they are going to show you with, well, with what am I trying to think of? All the little stations that they have. They are not real, not real photographs; but... (I can't think of the word. Anyway, they are all manufactured.) to show us what would happen.

So now our number one problem is self-preservation. Or, can mankind even stay alive on the earth? Or are we facing nothing but billions ahead? And here we are in a physical existence. We don't' have LIFE. We only have a temporary, physical existence. I've been emphasizing that the last two or three weeks before. Only a physical existence! And a physical existence where we are CUT OFF FROM GOD! A physical existence where we are helpless to deal with one another; and where we only have a temporary life, and it's going to end. It's appointed to all men once to die, and after this the judgment. Think of what is the state of man today.

But Life came only by Christ, the Second Adam. Now we get down to the time when Life came by the Second Adam. But Jesus said in Matthew 16, and verse 18 I think it is ... Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Jesus said He would build His Church, and He did. He revealed His truth to the apostles. And on the day of Pentecost (after He had taught His apostles for 3 ½ years and there were 120 there to follow Him), on that day something happened. Now the prophet Joel had prophesied:

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass ...

This is a prophecy. The main prophecy is ahead of us yet, but the preliminary part happened 1950 years ago (1950 years ago last Sunday).

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

Adam had rejected the Holy Spirit. God had shut off the Holy Spirit. Now, after all of these years (approximately over 4,000 years), God started the Holy Spirit for the few that were predestinated and called to be in the Church of God. And there were only 120 (after 3 ½ years of Jesus' preaching) who were there on the day of Pentecost. And on that day, that day of Pentecost, I want you to notice beginning with the 1st verse of chapter 2 of the book of Acts:

Acts 2:1-2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come [After Christ had ascended to heaven.], they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind ...

That's a real roar. If you ever heard a wind rushing that way, there's quite a lot of sound to it. I happened to be back in Indianapolis, Indiana just a couple or three nights ago; and a hurricane came very close. You may have read about it, or seen about it on television news. It played havoc. In just a short distance, there was terrible lightning right there in Indianapolis where we were eating up on the top floor of a, I don't know, 20 or 30 story hotel.

Acts 2:2-3 Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. [It was a real noisy occasion.] (3) And there appeared unto them [That's the 120 who were there.] cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

They say the Holy Spirit is a person, a holy ghost, because it is always spoken of as "he." Oh, no! It's called "it" here.

Acts 2:3-4 It [It's not a person.] sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy ...

"Spirit," it should be; and it says, "ghost" here. That wasn't a ghost that filled all of them at all. It was the Holy Spirit. (Now on to verse 15.) A crowd came rushing in, and they wondered what had happened. Peter stood up to talk to them, and Peter said:

Acts 2:15-17 For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day [Nine o'clock in the morning]. (16) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, saying, (17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.

Now this is only the preliminary, the FIRSTFRUITS. Not "all flesh," but it was all flesh of those God had called at that time. Just the Church, and it was only 120 out of all of the population of the earth at that time. Now later that same day another 3,000 were baptized however, and undoubtedly received the Holy Spirit that same day.

Now then, they listened to Peter in the sermon; and they were filled with consternation; and when Peter had got through preaching, the people asked him what to do. In verse 37:

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard [Peter speaking], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

They were rather frantic when they heard it, and heard how guilty they were of putting Christ to death. Now they wondered what to do.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, REPENT, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [what had been offered to Adam 4,000 years before].

Now the Holy Spirit was opened up because the Second Adam had come and paid the penalty with His life, for the sins of those people — who had sinned. And now they could repent and be reconciled to God the Father, who had eternal Life to give. He says:

Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall CALL.

Just to those that God calls, because Jesus said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which sent me draw him." So it's not for all flesh even yet. That was THE FIRSTFRUITS of all flesh, and that only at that time.

Now Christ had preached His gospel. But, as you read in Galatians the 1st chapter, the gospel was suppressed. (Verses 6 and 7 of Galatians 1) The gospel was suppressed, and it had been suppressed then for 1900 years. The true Church of God had moved underground, and the true Church of God continued generation after generation. But how did the Church receive its knowledge? Originally the Church received its knowledge from the apostles, and the apostles got it direct from Christ.

Jesus is the Word of God in person. The Bible is the same Word of God in writing. It is the same Word exactly! This is Jesus Christ in writing. The same Word exactly that He taught the apostles. No different!

Now then, we have a prophecy back here in Malachi the 3rd chapter and the first 5 verses.

Malachi 3:1-5 Behold, I will send my messenger [It's a prophecy for the future.], and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in ... [That's Christ, the Messenger of the New Covenant. Now go right on, the next verse.] (2) But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. (3) And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old ... (5) And I will come near to you to judgment.

THAT DOES NOT DESCRIBE THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST! THAT'S DESCRIBING THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. John the Baptist was only a forerunner, preparing the way for the first coming of Christ. And as John the Baptist was a voice in the wilderness of the Jordan River — the physical, material wilderness of the Jordan River — preparing the way before a human, physical Christ born of the human flesh to come to His human people (Judah) and to come to His materialistic temple built of stone, and wood, and other materials, and coming to announce He would restore the Kingdom of God (or build the Kingdom of God and restore the government of God)...

So it's speaking of the Second Coming of Christ where there would be one to prepare the way of Christ's coming by PREPARING THE TEMPLE He's to come to. The temple is the Church. YOU are that temple! And this would be a voice in the spiritual wilderness of the Twentieth Century religious confusion! Crying out in that spiritual wilderness, to prepare the way for the spiritual Christ in POWER and GREAT GLORY to come to set up the Kingdom of God and to come to His spiritual temple — the Church (not a physical temple), and this time to set up and to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Brethren, we've come to that time; and God has raised up one, and you have heard the truth from him just as the early Church heard the truth from the apostles.

Now, how did God give me the truth? I got it from the same Christ (only in print) that the original apostles did. I began to find that everything I'd been taught religiously, and which I never paid much attention to anyway, was contrary to the Word of God; and this {6} was Christ speaking. I saw when He said:

Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.

I'd been taught the wages of sin is eternal life instead of death, but in hell fire. I'd been taught I already had the gift of God, but the next part of that same verse said eternal life is the gift of God. Adam could have had it as a gift, but he didn't. Nobody has had it as God's gift since; but Christ brought it as a gift. "Through Christ," the gift of God.

I began to learn we don't go to heaven. I began to learn that almost everything the churches are teaching today is false and contrary to the Bible. I began to realize that the Bible ... I had to PROVE that God exists and that the Bible is the authentic Word of God, and that it is the authority, and the authoritative Word of God. I was taught ... My mind was swept clean of every other belief, and I was taught right from the Bible. I didn't get it from any college. I didn't get it from any seminary or Bible school, from other men. I didn't get it from other people.

Now the second generation of the Church got it from the people of the first generation. The third generation of the Church got it from the second generation. Then they went underground, and people got it from people in the generation before them. And when I came into the Church, I found they had lost about 90% of the truth of the gospel. Now they did have the law of God. They did have the Sabbath day, but not the annual Sabbaths. They didn't know about the Kingdom of God though. They only knew a little about the Holy Spirit. They knew there was a Holy Spirit, but they didn't understand it at all. They didn't know what it meant for them to have the Holy Spirit.

They were an arguing people. They could argue from certain Bible truths, but they only had a part of the Bible. GOD HAS REVEALED THE TRUTH TO US in a way that NOBODY in 1900 years has ever had it. DO YOU REALIZE THAT, BRETHREN? Do you realize that the Methodist church doesn't have it? The Roman Catholic church doesn't understand it. The Presbyterian church, the Baptist. None of these churches understand this truth. The thing that God has given us is as different as day is from night, and they are in darkness when it comes to the light of God.

I'm not condemning them. God says the world is deceived, and Satan has deceived the whole world. Deceived people can be ever so honest. They don't know they are deceived. Maybe they mean well. I wouldn't criticize. But if God hasn't called them, He will later. This just isn't the time yet, but He's called some of us now. Judgment is on us now, though it isn't on them as yet.

Now the truth has been restored at last. We are in the end time. The Church is the firstfruits of the very Spirit of God. Now to the Church, let me show you what God says to us. And as I say, the Church went underground; but it's been revived. The 18th chapter of Revelation:

Revelation 18:1-2 And after these things [the prophecy] I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (2) And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of [demons], and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

And Babylon is shown in the 17th chapter as "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" — a woman riding on the governments, on a number of governments. Babylon is a great false Church, and she is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Protestants came out of her in protest, and we are called "Come out of her, my people!" That's out of Protestantism, out of Roman Catholicism. But ...

Revelation 18:3-4 For all nations [All nations have been deceived, as you read in the 12th chapter of Revelation. All nations ... ] have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. (4) And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.

And this is FOR THIS CHURCH NOW, just before the Day of the Lord and the plagues of God are poured out. Just before that time. Now I would like to have you notice next, let's see, II Corinthians 6:16-18 where Christ says:

II Corinthians 6:16-17 For ye [speaking to us as a Church, and especially in this last time and this last generation] are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them [of this world, and of their religions, and of the ways of this world, and the world's entertainments] ...

Some of you will go home from this sermon, turn on the radio and be entertained, or go to some entertainment tonight. God says COME OUT OF THEM, MY PEOPLE!

II Corinthians 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord [of hosts].

That is what God is saying to us in this last time, but before the final plagues that precede the Second Coming of Christ. Now we come over again to II Peter 3:18. II Peter 3:18 ... I didn't put a marker in for that. Well, II Peter 3:18 says (I know what it says without turning to it.) "But GROW in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." We have to grow in that kind of knowledge. Adam took to himself knowledge. We have to grow in the knowledge that God imparts through the Holy Spirit.

Now for our time there is another prophecy back here in Joel, in Joel the first chapter. Notice the first three verses. I want to read you a little of this prophecy.

Joel 1:1-3 The word of the [Eternal] that came to Joel the son of Pethuel, (2) Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? (3) Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

It's prophecy for the far, far future. Now turn to verse 14. Drop down to verse 14.

Joel 1:14-15 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD. (15) Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand ...

It hasn't come yet. No, the Day of the Lord isn't here yet. The Great Tribulation isn't, and the Day of the Lord will come to cut short the Great Tribulation. But it's "at hand."

Joel 1:15 The day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Now in the 2nd chapter of Joel. Well, I think that's enough for right now. It's, let's see. In the 2nd chapter and the 12th and 13th verses.

Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the [Eternal], turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

That's A MESSAGE TO THIS CHURCH NOW! Brethren, are we taking this lightly? Or do we come here to be entertained this afternoon, and then go out to more of the world's entertainment tonight? THESE THINGS ARE REAL, AND A TERRIBLE THING THAT IS COMING ON THIS EARTH. I don't know that a hydrogen bomb is going to strike Omaha. Maybe it will strike Pasadena. But we are coming to the time when we need to be thinking about going to a place of safety for protection against the things that are coming. We are coming to the time when it says:

Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

Did we do that? No. WE'RE TAKING IT LIGHTLY, my brethren. I've been trying to get this Church back on the track. We're NOT FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT like we should be! WE'RE STILL TOO MUCH IN THE WORLD! WE'RE STILL CARELESS. I mean YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU UP THERE in the balcony. YOU ARE CARELESS; and you are IN DANGER, and I'd like to see you get out of danger — where you are safe and where you are under the protection of God.

We just take it terribly for granted: "Well, we're a member of the Church. God will take care of us." DON'T KID YOURSELF! Do you remember when Christ came right up against it? He departed and prayed, and He even sweat blood. He was in such earnest. It wasn't an emotional fervor, like Pentecostal people — just physical emotion. It was spiritual earnestness; and that's the way we've got to be now towards life, and in our prayers and in our Bible study. And we are not awake, brethren. WE ARE ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH STILL. And I say, "Wake up!"

Some have been purged from the Church. It's too bad. We hate to see it. But the Church has to be cleaned up. But it's all ... The Second Coming of Christ, the Great Tribulation — these things are near! We need our minds first on the Bible and on the things of God. I think we have our minds more on the picnic that's coming up than we do on the things of God and the serious things.

The Holy Spirit is a mind that is not just filled with physical emotion, but it is a mind that is earnest. And it is in earnest about this condition in the world, and that we are to COME OUT of this world and BE SEPARATE from it, and that we are to GET CLOSER TO GOD than we are. Brethren, we are not that close to God.

In the last week, I've made arrangement to go back over to Jordan and renew acquaintances with King Hussein and renew a program that we had that we didn't go through with over there. I wasn't responsible for that, but it will all be taken care of. I don't know that Petra is the place of safety where we are to go. I don't know that. I know this: That, if it is not, then the place is not revealed as yet in the Bible. And there is plenty of evidence that that could be the place. King Hussein of Jordan controls it; and he is a friend of mine, and I need to renew that acquaintance.

And some day you may find that my acquaintance with kings, presidents, prime ministers, and head of states over the world may save your lives. We need to realize we're getting into the most serious days that this world has ever known. We are in the time when we need to watch and pray, as Christ warned. And that warning wasn't for two or three generations ago. It wasn't for people 500 years or 1,000 years ago. When Jesus said, "Watch and pray, for you know not the hour." He was talking about our time and our generation now. And we are not taking it seriously enough, brethren. We are taking it nonchalantly.

Oh, yes, we've got the truth. The other churches haven't got it. We're pretty cocky. We think we're pretty good. Or do we? We'd better quit thinking that, and we'd better get a little better and a little closer to God than we are. I hope you'll take this home to yourself, and that you'll spend a little more time on your knees from now on. Thank you very much, brethren.

Brethren, I meant it. I'm in dead earnest about it. I didn't mean to entertain you — to be applauded, or for applause. This is very, very serious. I hope you'll take it that way.