People wonder why God has allowed the human race to continue in sin down through these many ages. It’s because He made man with a living soul and free choice. God put His divine plan for man in jeopardy when He gave man free choice. Man’s use of his free choice became God’s greatest disappointment and handicap. It’s man who has hindered God; the devil cannot hinder God much without the help of man. The devil would have already been in the lake of fire, I’m sure, had it not been for man’s interference. God doesn’t owe the devil anything; the devil has no chance to repent, so it would be of no purpose for God to let him run his course. Man, however, can repent. Man can serve God or not, do all or part of what God says or none of it.

God didn’t have much of a chance in Old Testament days to carry out all His plans. He was very limited. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78:41). But when man was not God’s handicap, God served him in style.

Everything was wonderful in Eden before the fall. No friction disturbed the relationship between man and His God. Man had no stubborn spirit for God to deal with, no disobedience. Man lived in God’s perfection, in love and obedience. It was glorious.

Free choice is a wonderful blessing when handled right. Making your choice for God and closing all doors to any other choice gives you great strength. But to not make the right choice brings grief and troubles and can cause you to be eternally damned. Making the right choice is vital.

The Call of Gideon

The Lord called Gideon to deliver his people who had been in bondage to the Midianites seven years. And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee (Judges 6:14)? If the Lord is with us then where are all the miracles, Gideon wanted to know. God called a sensible man, a man who believed in God and His miracles. The only people God will call to do His special work are those who believe in Him all the way, believe in miracles. If you don’t believe in miracles, you don’t believe in the real God, but a god of your own imagination. Israel believed in the real God only part of the time, and that’s the reason they were in great trouble. But after seven years of bondage it was time for them to be delivered. God no doubt had been preparing Gideon the whole seven years to be Israel’s deliverer. Perhaps it took seven years to get him ready, or perhaps it took seven years before God could ready three hundred people through whom He could flow His power for victory. People often hold back the plan of God. Just because the leader is ready doesn’t mean those following him are ready. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude (Judges 7:12).

Gideon felt strong; he had thirty-two thousand soldiers to back him up. The angel of the Lord had come to him and he thought everything was set, but no. The Lord told him it wouldn’t work. You can think everything is ready to go, but wait on God. Out of thirty-two thousand Israelites, twenty-two thousand turned back at one time. Gideon brought the remaining ten thousand down to the water. The LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men…. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you (Judges 7:5-7). Those who did not bow down to drink could keep watch. Only three hundred had their minds more on the enemy than on water. The rest forgot all about the enemy. When twenty-two thousand turned back, some people must have thought it was the most backsliding time they had ever seen; they just knew they couldn’t win the battle now; they would have to wait. But God wants people to look to Him, not to numbers.

Before the Lord brought me to Akron to establish the work, He told me not to look at numbers but to look to Him, trust in Him. Just as the Lord worked for Gideon to get people ready to help him, God has been working all these years to get a people ready to help me with this great outreach, a people who will stand in total obedience and unity, stand in one mind and one accord, saith the Lord. In this last hour, God will win through His faith and the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This Gospel must be taken to the whole world in this final hour. For a long time God has prepared workers.

If you do not know God the way you should, you have many doubting questions. When you are really close to God, you are full of answers. The Bride will be full of answers in this last hour.

Don’t question God; know Him so you can have confidence in what greatness to put your trust in. Grow up in the Lord. The Bride is coming into maturity, to that place she knows her Lord. At anytime, anyplace she recognizes His voice, the way He moves, His glory, His Spirit. Wise to the ways of the enemy, she will not be under subjection to him, not be seduced by demonic spirits, by evil.

The Lord was now ready with Gideon and the three hundred, but they didn’t look ready. Don’t go by looks. Many have looked ready, but they weren’t. Go by faith: the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). The just shall live by faith, fight by faith and win through faith. In this last hour, the just will walk with God because they will walk the faith walk.

Gideon was human; the Lord knew he had a few misgivings about the battle ahead. He told Gideon if he were afraid he should take his servant, go down to the host of the Midianites, and listen to what they had to say.

Wanting Gideon to be ready, the Lord was patient with him. God wants us to be ready to serve Him, to do His will in perfection. Gideon did all he could to prove God faithful. Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord (Malachi 3:10). God wanted a chance to prove His greatness to Israel. The Lord is ready for you to prove Him when you’re sincere. If you don’t move because you don’t know whether or not God wants you to move, God respects that; but when God tells you to move and you become stubborn and refuse, God frowns. He can’t stand a rebellious spirit, and He won’t work with it. I have encouraged people to wait on God’s will when they don’t know which way to move. Waiting brings results.

Gideon and his servant crept down to the edge of the enemy camp. As they listened, they overheard a man telling his dream of how God would deliver Midian into the hands of Gideon. Gideon earlier had put out a fleece—twice. And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water (Judges 6:36-38). Gideon asked for the reverse the next night—the ground wet and the fleece dry, and it was as he asked.

When you really want to know, when you are not trying to avoid God’s will, God will deal with you. He is glad when you are careful, when you want to make no mistake about His will, when you wait upon the Lord. They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). The Bible teaches you to wait. Just because some people are in motion, they think they are making progress with the Lord, but they haven’t mounted up with wings as the eagle and soared into the greatness of God. They have moved in their own will, their own strength. They didn’t wait upon the Lord.

God worked with Gideon and three hundred men to defeat the enemies of God. When the three hundred lined up to get their weapons, they were each handed a vessel of clay with a candle inside, and a trumpet. Gideon divided the three hundred into three companies to surround the huge multitude of the enemy. Trusting wholly in the power and might of God, Gideon told his three hundred to do as he did. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon (Judges 7:18). When it was time to shout, they were ready. Gideon shouted, and the three hundred shouted. He broke his vessel, they broke theirs, and light was shining everywhere. It frightened the enemy so much that their imaginations completely overcame them; the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, and they fled. Gideon and his army won a great victory for the Lord.

Get Ready for a Miracle

You will be wide awake in this last hour if you please God. He said He is coming after the ones who are obedient and watching for Him. Gideon’s three hundred were obedient, watching. God is going to depend on the very obedient in this last hour, saith the Lord, the very obedient. Only the very obedient can He trust to take the Gospel with signs, wonders, miracles and healings to the world, those who really know God, who will not count numbers.

God came down and walked with Adam and Eve, and years later He came down and walked with Enoch. When God can find even one person to walk with, who will obey Him diligently in all things, God can do His work through that one better than He can work with a million lukewarm Christians. God works with perfect obedience to do His wonderful work.

Not being able to find people who will work in perfect obedience has been a great hindrance to God, but at last the members of the bridal company are appearing on the scene from all directions, coming together in one mind, one accord, in perfect love and obedience. The Bride, wearing the love bridle, is alert, looking for Jesus to come, knowing He is coming. Living, walking, thinking in the Spirit, the Bride is obeying and being taught by Him. Just as God brought the Gideon army into place, the Holy Spirit is bringing the army of His Bride into place.

God can do anything. People in their own human reasoning try to figure out God, but He won’t allow it. He will allow you to know Him through the Holy Spirit. Any insincere person can try to figure Him out. A consecrated, dedicated person full of the faith of God never tries to figure Him out, but to know Him. Paul said, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10). Paul knew that the key of doing the divine mission he was called for was in knowing Christ and the power of His Resurrection, knowing the power in the blood, the work of redemption. He would have to know all the benefits in the power of Jesus for mankind.

Gideon had to get ready for God’s miracle. The Gideons today, the faithful, will get ready for a God miracle. As we get ready for God’s miracle, it will be no trouble for God to give victory. We get ready for the miracle, and it takes place. Prepare for miracles.

The mother of Jesus got people ready for a miracle. She said to the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it (John 2:5). The servants filled the waterpots to the brim, and Jesus turned the water into wine. Preparations were made, and Jesus performed His first miracle. Whatever the Lord tells the Bride to do, she will do. That’s the reason there won’t be just a few miracles, but thousands and millions of miracles. God will be busy; signs, wonders, miracles and healings will take place in abundance.

When a people obey God and put God into operation, into action, His power will sweep the earth. The Bride will put God into action throughout the whole earth by her obedience. She will untie God’s hands so He can work in every nation under the sun to give people an opportunity to know Jesus before it’s too late. How marvelous, how wonderful to see this great plan of God working through the Bride, the very obedient!

God’s people today will not be in bondage in this last and final hour. The fetters will fall off. At liberty in the faith of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Bride will be full of the Spirit daily, yielded to and cooperating with the Spirit one hundred percent. She will grow fast in the sunshine of His love and grace.

The works of the Early Church demonstrate what it means when a small number of people yield to God in perfect obedience. Keeping that unity of obedience was so important that God killed a couple for telling just one lie. God needs obedient people, channels to pour His power through so that He can do His work. God works through people. People either hinder or help God, either curse or bless Him. It doesn’t matter to God about the devil. God has already pronounced judgment on him, changed him from one of the most beautiful of God’s creations into the ugliest creature imaginable. The devil isn’t God’s problem, people are.

God has worked and worked for about two thousand years in the Church Age with only a few who were totally obedient to Him. But when God begins a work, He doesn’t give up. Even when the Gospel light of the Church went almost completely out, God did not give up. As long as He could find one faithful soul, God worked and kept the Church alive. We don’t know what the least number of the faithful was, but, I say again, God doesn’t depend on numbers. He doesn’t have to. God is God, Lord God Almighty. He could speak, and in a split second every one of us could be gone, every human being, from the face of the earth. We need to know God, the might, the longsuffering, love and trust He wants to put in His children. God has waited patiently for the harvest.

Israel Wanted a King

Israel wanted a king, but that was not the divine will of God. Most of the events in the Old Testament were not God’s divine will; more failures are recorded there than successes, more disobedience than obedience, more despair for God than pleasure. God made promises and the people ran ahead of God. They failed God, failed God. Think of all that God has endured with disobedient mankind while trying to save them, the multitudes He has killed or let die. The Old Testament is not a history of God’s will but a history of how God has worked with man in spite of his disobedience. No matter how much man gave over to the devil, God stood by, trying to deliver him from the devil’s clutches, trying to bring him from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom. God has worked and worked, and He is still working.

The Children of Israel said to Samuel the prophet, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel (I Samuel 8:5,6). Israel wanted to be like other nations. God wanted them to be separate, a special nation. Had they been that special nation God wanted, what victories would have been theirs! The Jewish history would have been altogether different. Samuel prayed, and the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (verse 7). How many times have you rejected the hand of God from reigning over you? How many days have you not let God reign over you in the truest sense of the word? How many days have you pushed Jesus off the throne of your heart, not letting Him be King in your life? We read how the Israelites failed God, but the Christians have followed the same path of rejecting God’s divine will. Many in the Church today are wandering around aimlessly in the wilderness like the Israelites of old. They have rejected the Lord Jesus, His will and way every day. They have rejected Him from being King in their lives.

God didn’t plan the Israelite’s downfall; they brought it on themselves. They didn’t want God to be their king but a man. God told Samuel to explain to the Israelites what having a king would be like: their children would be servants, the best of their crops and livestock would be taken for the king and all his attendants. If they stayed with God, all could be theirs: but like many today, they didn’t want God’s way. God chose the best available man to be king; compared to God that wasn’t much. The people adored Saul instead of God.

But Saul gave himself over to the devil. He sought David’s life, not taking into consideration the anointing of David. David was the musician who played music to drive the madness from Saul so he could have some peace. In his envy, Saul forgot all about that. He despised David for the glory poured out on him for killing Goliath; the people praised David more than they praised Saul. Had Saul been obedient to God he could have had the praise, but he failed. David wisely and humbly left him in the hands of God.

Saul came to a wretched end. The enemy fought against him; his armies fled and were cut down on Mount Gilboa. Jonathan, his son whom David loved, was killed as well as two other sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armour-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armour-bearer, and all his men, that same day together (I Samuel 31:3-6).

Second Samuel tells us that an Amalekite claimed to have killed Saul. He knew Saul was David’s enemy and thought to get a great reward. However, the Bible has already told us that Saul took a sword and fell upon it. Saul committed suicide; the Amalekite gave a false report. Know what the Word of God is saying. There are no discrepancies in the Word of God. It’s all true; it all fits together, but you have to match it right to see the whole picture of God.

David had the Amalekite killed because he said he had killed God’s anointed. David had not dared to kill Saul for that reason: he was God’s anointed.

Disobedience brought Saul to this shame. How the heart of God was grieved at his dishonorable death! God had fought for Israel through Saul in the beginning and would have continued to do so had Saul not failed. Saul would have been the one to have killed Goliath, not David. When Saul failed, God had to choose a lad of about thirteen years of age to win for Israel, a boy who would be obedient. Only David believed he could defeat Goliath because only David saw God. Remember, it isn’t in numbers that God can work but in obedience.

In this last hour you will either see giants or God. When you measure God with the giants, they become powerless. No matter how many giants the devil might send your way, stand them beside your God and victory is yours. Measure everything with your God, not with your imagination or your opinions. Your God will stand the test. He is mighty and He makes everything else look insignificant. Armies can be vast in numbers but totally without the power of God. God’s power is the supreme power. Because the Bride will know the greatness of God, she will be able to do much in this last hour. She knows God has all power and that power is hers to use against the devil. Why should she fear anything? She tramples devils underfoot just like Jesus said she would do. Jesus put on display the marvelous power for the Church to use.

Many have no understanding of God; they don’t really know God because they don’t take the scriptures as a whole. Using their own opinions, they fit the scriptures together wrongly. Then because they don’t have the right picture of God, fear takes them over. But when all the pieces go into place, you see the God of the Bible, knowing that Almighty God has almighty power. You know when His right hand goes up, His people will be winners. As long as that right hand is in the air favoring His people, they can’t be defeated.

We read of David, admire him greatly, but then we find a tragic story. The demon of lust took him over. He failed God, committed adultery and had an innocent man sent to his death to cover his affair with Bathsheba. It grieved God. God had had such a marvelous vessel in the young lad David. No disobedience had been in him, nothing unlike God, only the pure faith of God, pure obedience, God’s obedience and wisdom. David had faced Goliath with only a slingshot; he hadn’t even carried the equipment Saul had offered him. With Goliath’s own sword, he had cut off the giant’s head. Putting no dependence on the things of man, only the things of God, David had confidence he would kill Goliath. He had killed a lion, a bear and didn’t think Goliath would be any different. Facing Goliath would take God. David had known where the victory would come from. David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine (I Samuel 17:37). I imagine that after David killed the bear and the lion he had glorious songs of victory to sing. Songs of praise will lift you up to Heaven’s mountain! At one time David had given God the glory, but now he failed, now he yielded to the devil, now there was no obedience in him. The prophet Nathan pointed out the error of his ways. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die (II Samuel 12:13).

Humanity has caused the tears of God to fall again and again. God will never stop crying; Heaven will never stop crying until every soul comes to God that can be reached with His Gospel.

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah (II Samuel 24:1). Some people blame David for the results of numbering Israel, for the seventy thousand who were killed by the pestilence. David was not the cause. The disobedience of the people was the cause, their arrogance toward God. God was angry, and through that anger He moved on David to number the people so they would be killed. This wasn’t the divine plan of God; man and the devil made it necessary. David was operated by God.

God allows people to bring judgment on their own heads, and on the heads of others. God works in all kinds of ways. God didn’t bring Israel out of Egypt to kill them by the thousands. God loved them, cared for them; but they blocked that love and care again and again by their disobedience. He wanted to enjoy them, to be their king, their God. They were to have been His pleasure, His crown of joy and happiness.

A Thread of Obedience

Study the kings of Judah and Israel, the minority that served God and how the rest failed Him. Ahab came on the scene and did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him (I Kings 16:30). Ahab was degraded, evil. When he married Jezebel it’s hard to tell how many thousands of devils he brought into his house. He raised up an altar to a false god, Baal, and worshiped it.

But still a little thread of man’s obedience runs throughout the Old Testament. At times that thread grows mighty thin; sometimes it looks as though it won’t last until the dispensation of grace. Is all humanity going to be wiped out? If you didn’t know the outcome, you would almost lose your breath at times. But his little slim thread of obedience held on.

Not for a long time had there been a prophet in the land. Then in First Kings, chapter seventeen, we read that the prophet Elijah faced Ahab with news that would make him very unhappy. Boldly Elijah said, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. The voice that came through Elijah was the voice of God, and Ahab didn’t recognize it. People are so deceived that they don’t realize the voice speaking through a human being is of God. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan (I Kings 17:1-3). Later when the drought started to become severe, a furious Ahab began scouring the country for Elijah.

God told Elijah, this obedient prophet, that the ravens would feed him as he hid by the brook. Had Elijah not been dedicated and consecrated to God he could have been very apprehensive. How would you feel had the Lord instructed you to go in before a wicked king, tell him there would be no rain or dew for years? You know the king would try to kill you, that no human would help you in the beginning, but the birds would bring food to you. You couldn’t mean that, Lord! I must be in fanaticism. Elijah’s thread of faith led him to face Ahab and then to the brook in total obedience. That thread was life to Elijah, and it’s life to others. What power, what strength, what greatness it has—the mighty faith of God!

How would you have felt had you been Elijah when the brook dried up? How is your faith? You will be all right if your faith is all right, if you have God’s faith. You are secure when you use God’s faith. A person talking through God’s faith, love and greatness, is a person we trust. Without God is no life, only death; without God we are nothing.

Talk through the faith of God; if not, fear will take you over. Study yourself; you have but one heart—and it could stop beating just any time. Do you have faith in the God who made your heart? He knows how to repair it when needed. To be happy you must trust God. Know Him, and then you will know how much you can trust Him and depend on Him.

God directed Elijah to leave the dried-up brook and go to Zarephath to be fed by a widow woman. She was gathering sticks when Elijah saw her. Elijah asked her for a little water and a morsel of bread. She told him that she had only a handful of meal in the barrel and a little cruse of oil, and that she and her son were going to eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah (I Kings 17:13-16). See how God works when He has an obedient person? It’s not hard for God to fill a meal barrel. It’s hard to get some people in the place of obedience where God can flow His power through them. When we don’t believe God, we tie His hands, and He cannot work. Elijah believed, or he wouldn’t have asked for that poor widow’s last bit of meal. He had a heart of faith and love. If you have a heart of love and faith, God can use you. He performs His great miracles through love and faith. It’s wonderful when people will obey God!

After many days, the word of the Lord came again to Elijah, telling him to go back and confront Ahab. Elijah had faith to face the man who hated him; God had a man, a human being He trusted, whom He could speak through and work through. God was enjoying every bit of His servant’s obedience. Elijah appeared before Ahab, telling him it would rain—and then he killed all the prophets of Baal.

If you think everything is predestined, that no changes can be made, think again. Our God changes things, He moves and works. To believe in predestination for the soul is ridiculous. John Calvin taught that rotten doctrine, the act by which God supposedly foreordains people from the time they are born for either Heaven or hell with no escape from their destiny. What a terrible way to bring a God of love before the people! That isn’t what the Bible teaches. When God finds just one person He can direct, He delights in that person, walks all the way night and day, never leaving or forsaking that one. Each person has a part of God, a soul that can never die that came from the breath of God. The soul will live with God forever in Heaven or exist in a living death in hell; the choice is up to the individual.

Trust God for Your Tomorrows

Tribulation worketh patience (Romans 5:3). Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:4). If you let the patience of God have its perfect work, then you can be perfect. Everything you need will be supplied. You won’t be perfect in the eyes of God until you let His patience have its perfect work because you won’t show the love of God, the peace, longsuffering, the goodness without His patience. You will display impatience, anger, qualities unlike God.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God (James 1:19,20). God has trouble with most of us because we are slow to hear, quick to speak and fast to lose our temper. You work in the righteousness of God when you have love; there is no righteousness in man’s anger.

People who make their own plans say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that (James 4:13-15). God knows about tomorrow; you do not. Why not trust Him for your tomorrows? You may have plans for tomorrow, plans that may or may not take place. You hope you will wake up tomorrow, but you may not. You can’t say one thing for sure that will happen tomorrow, and you can’t be sure you will be here to see it.

If you have ever stared death in the face, you realize the fragileness of life. When you want and walk in the divine will of God, you put your tomorrows in the hands of God. If the Lord is willing, you will do such and such a thing. Don’t leave the Lord out. It isn’t enough to have God around you; you must have Him within. Keep Him in your heart, in all your plans, all your conversation, all your thinking. If God isn’t within your heart, you won’t keep Him in your prayers, in your Bible reading. As long as God is without, your thinking, your Bible reading, your prayers will not be effective.

But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:16,17).

Separate the Spirits

God did not predestine Heaven or hell for any soul, I say again. People have not walked with God the way they should; they have looked on Him through their own opinions and not the truth. You must know the Spirit of God, the spirit of man and the spirit of the devil so you can separate them. If you do not, you will not understand the Old Testament. In the divine visitation, the Lord told me I would have to know the Spirit of God, the spirit of man and the spirit of the devil. God has taught me all three. Each one is a deep subject. The study of God’s Kingdom, of angels and how they work is a much larger study than you could imagine. I didn’t think the spirit of man would be such a deep subject, although I knew the Spirit of God and the spirit of the devil would be.

The study of the spirit of mankind is dumbfounding, an astounding awakening. Man’s millions of actions involve millions of reasons. What causes people to respond or not respond, to accept or reject God, to talk the way they do, to be careless with their souls, to stumble in the night when they could walk in the day? What causes people to not depend on God, to not want God with them all the time? Why, why will they disobey God? When the Bible tells us that all liars will be cast into the lake of fire, why will some still lie and claim to be going to Heaven? Why will people—out of the will of God, out from under the blood of Jesus Christ—why will they say they are saved? Why will people claim to be dedicated and consecrated to Christ when they have no control over self, when self rages in fits and spasms and enters dungeons of “thou shalt nots”? In the study of man, these things are learned.

If you let God teach you, you can separate the spirits. It’s wonderful to be able to separate as you read in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Start in the very beginning of Genesis and take a walk with God. God will let you know, if you are sincere, dedicated and yielded to Him, what He did and what He didn’t do. That is the teaching for the Bride, saith the Lord, in this final hour through the power and the Spirit and the great teacher called the Holy Ghost. He is the teacher, the guide.

Different Worlds

The world of redemption is marvelous. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). The foundation of the world Jesus is speaking of here is not when the earth was created, but the foundation of the world of redemption, the new world, the new plan. Be able to separate; God does not want people confused about His Word.

The Bible is not a book of confusion, but a book of truth. Live and dwell in the truth or you will be confused. Only the truth will keep you out of confusion; only the truth will give you clear light on all your paths. Only the truth can make plain paths for your feet. When you put out any of the Gospel light, you are in trouble.

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (Matthew 24:21). The beginning of the world here does not refer to the first creation millions and millions of years ago but to the creation we read of in Genesis.

Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind (John 9:32). Since the world began, not the prehistoric world, but the world of mankind.

Jesus said in John 12:47, I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Jesus came to save the people of the world. He brought a new and living way for all peoples.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was (John 17:5). For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (verse 24). This time Jesus is speaking of dates back before the earth was spoken into existence.

Questions and Answers

Several people in the Old Testament were marked before their birth. In Genesis 25:23 the Lord told Rebekah that two nations were in her womb, that one nation would be stronger than the other. Hagar was told by the angel of the Lord that Ishmael would be a wild man, grow up in the wild, in other words. The Bible speaks of predestination in Romans and Ephesians. My question is: Could I have been marked before birth by God to serve Him? And why are my brothers and sisters of the same upbringing and environment not interested in the least in the Lord? Could some be marked for salvation and some not?

No, that would be predestination, a false doctrine. Your brothers and sisters were brought up right, but they have given over to the devil. They love the wages of sin, satisfying the lust of the flesh. Although they do not love God and will not surrender to Him, they know the right way and are not marked for damnation. Only their sins will mark them for damnation. Your sins will send you to hell, not God. The Lord did predestine that sin would send people to hell. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17). You didn’t want to go to hell, so you have come to Jesus and have been washed with the blood, made whiter than snow. Your brothers and sisters may decide later that they want to go to Heaven, too. Keep praying and believe. They have every chance of coming to the Lord that you had. You were brought up in the same home, but they have rebelled against God. Anyone can rebel against God or accept Him. It’s whosoever will, let him come.

If the person God chooses for me to marry won’t serve God, or if that one marries someone else, will God choose another person for me?

If God wants you to get married, He will. God doesn’t necessarily choose someone for you before you are saved. Many plans are made by God for people after they come to the Lord, the majority of plans are made then. God doesn’t always will a certain person for you to marry from the time you were born unless you have a special work to do for Him. In that case, you still have the choice to accept or reject His plan.

If you don’t have a special mission, God can plan someone for you when you are saved and when the other person is saved, bring you together if marriage is in His plans for you. But you need to let God match you up so the marriage will work, so you won’t fuss. God knows how to match people who will love each other with His great love and be a blessing to His Kingdom. God marks many for a special mission ahead of time, but God chooses mates for most people as they grow up to serve and depend on Him. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5,6). God can work with you when you trust Him with all your heart, prove yourself faithful. Then He can direct your paths, even to choosing a mate for you. If you lean to your own knowledge, your own understanding, God will let you choose what you want, and He will not take the blame for the results.

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil (Proverbs 3:7). Many are wise in their own eyes, doing what they want, making their own plans. They don’t want God mixed up in their lives. God will let them make their own plans, but He will take no responsibility for them.

Some people on divine missions are marked in their mothers’ wombs; the Lord marked Angel, my wife, in her mother’s womb and marked me in my mother’s womb. God planned both of our lives. From the time we were born, God was going to bring us together for a special divine mission. God works in many different ways for people. Angel was visited by God when she was ten; I was visited by God when I was about seven or eight. We both were reared by mothers who had deep rooted faith in God, who believed in their children honoring and choosing God above all else.

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, marked by God to do the work of the Lord—but he could have chosen to fail. On the other hand, Jesus called people who were not marked that way when He was here on Earth to be disciples.

If you want God’s plan you have to wait. Look to Him. He knows what’s best for you, and if you yield to Him, He will work for you. Many get ahead of God. In the Old Testament, not very many stayed in step with Jehovah God, waiting for His will. Even Abraham failed in that. Rebekah failed to wait and others failed also. It caused chaos.

Why did God wait so long to deliver the Israelites out of four hundred years of bondage?

In Genesis we find that God predestined the bondage. He told Abraham: Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance (Genesis 15:13,14). That time was predestined. God trusted Abraham but not some of Abraham’s seed. He knew He would have problems. God decided to not keep this coming bondage from Abraham. God thought if He kept a people in bondage four hundred years, maybe they would decide to really serve Him, be so humbled He would be able to deal with them. Even such a drastic plan didn’t work; and so, many years later, He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, to save lost humanity.

God knows the arrogance of man. He had already destroyed one civilization because of it, all but the Noah family. Now He had a nation He wanted to take into a land of plenty; He wanted to shelter them, look out for them, supply all their needs so they would never want for anything. He wanted to cradle them in His arms of love, to be their God and them to be His people. The Bible says the Children of Israel spoiled the Egyptians just before they left Egypt. This was predestined. Things that God predestined cannot be changed. He predestined hell, and hell is there. He predestined the lake of fire, and it burns today. It cannot be done away with. Eternal punishment for the wicked cannot be changed. Eternal damnation for the devil and his angels cannot be changed. Eternal damnation for all who reject God, reject the blood of Jesus Christ, cannot be changed.

Why is God so longsuffering with some people? My father was an alcoholic almost all his life, God saved him in his nineties. Why does God’s Spirit stop dealing with others who are much younger?

It all depends on the paths they travel. Some people travel a path to an early death. Your father’s body just happened to handle the alcohol. It wasn’t because he was sheltered by God all his life. Although he was an alcoholic, he hadn’t blasphemed; and that gave him a chance later in life. We don’t know all the ways that God deals with one soul or the reasons God gives mercy. We know that as long as the faintest cry for God is in a soul, God will work with that soul. God gives everyone an opportunity to come to Him, but some people turn God down once and for all, and God knows when the turn-down is final. Your father evidently did not turn God down like that, didn’t blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. In his nineties he found Jesus. That shows the far-reaching grace of God. Some people are drawn to God. Some people get drunk and talk about God. They are under conviction; they know God is a good God, and they talk about how they are going to serve Him because they love Him. As long as one little cry for God is inside a person, God is merciful to that person.

Why did God choose to reveal His Son’s divinity to Peter rather than to the other apostles? Why was Peter the one to say, “Thou art the Christ”?

Some people recognize the Lord before others and are more quick to speak up in faith. Peter took hold of things fast with enthusiasm. He was the one who wanted to build three tabernacles on a mountain after He saw Jesus transfigured. The Lord wouldn’t let him do it. Who would walk up a mountain to get to church? Very few if any. At another time Peter spoke out impulsively, rebuking the Lord who was trying to prepare the disciples for His death. When Peter believed in something, he spoke right out. He cut off a man’s ear in defense of Christ, and because Christ stooped down, picked up the ear and put it back on the man, Peter was insulted. He felt Jesus didn’t appreciate how he was defending Him. Jesus didn’t want Peter to save His life; He had come to save Peter’s. Later Peter understood, after the Resurrection, and was a great worker for the Lord. When he stopped using his sword and started using the sword of the Spirit, he cut into hearts with the Gospel message.

Jesus loved John, so why didn’t John name Jesus as the Christ? When you see John in Heaven you can ask him. Why one person will speak up and another won’t demonstrates the difference in personalities. John listened. Learn to listen. We all have some changing to do.

Jesus said, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12). You must first learn the works of Jesus to be able to do them. Jesus taught the disciples His works.

God the Father was not here in bodily form in Old Testament days to teach the people His works, and people were misled, blamed God for the results of their mistakes. Today people still blame God; they blame Him for much of the Old Testament tragedies when God doesn’t take responsibility for most of it. God worked such a little compared to what He could have done had man not tied His hands. He would liked to have done the great things that would have saved man from all the pitfalls; He is trying to save people from them today. He even sent His Son to save people, but how many will yield to Him? Look at the chaos, the people who will not yield, not accept the wisdom of God or deliverance. Many can be made brand new, and yet they won’t allow themselves to be made new through the Holy Spirit of God.

If you are lost and undone without the Lord, you can be made new. Maybe you are an alcoholic, a drug addict, your life wretched and ruined, and you have ruined the happiness of those around you. Come to Jesus and be made a new creation, a creation that will learn to love and will be loved by those who have Jesus. Pray the sinners’ prayer with me now: Oh, God, save my soul! Forgive me of my sins. I’m so sorry that I sinned against you, but I have come home. I’m going to serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. I believe that the blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins, all of my sins. Come on into my heart, Jesus; come on in! If you meant that prayer, He has come.

You who need healing, you who are sick and afflicted, know there is healing in the name of Jesus. What comes from God? All things good and perfect, none of the bad. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). Healing is a good and perfect gift. He is the Lord who healeth all they diseases (Psalm 103:3). Believe the Lord, that His healing power will go into your body from His miraculous gifts of healing, power that will get you well as I pray for you now: Lord, I bring the sick and afflicted to you. There are so many of them, people bound with all manner of sicknesses and diseases. Many are beyond the help of doctors. The good physicians have done all they can, but it hasn’t been enough. But Lord, you have the cure, and you can deliver them. Oh Lord, from your gift of miracles, form your gifts of healing it comes in the name of your Son Jesus: Heal, heal! in the mighty, holy name of the Lord.

The healing power is flowing. Let it work in your body; watch yourself or your loved one get well. Give the Lord the honor, the praise, the glory. Write and tell me about it. I love to hear of people being saved, healed and delivered. I love to hear of little ones being made well by the hand of our ever-loving, ever-caring God. God be with you. The Lord is real and wonderful and His healing power is for you today.