In the last section of Luke chapter
12, beginning at verse 54, our Lord Jesus speaks specifically
to the common people. Prior to this, he had been speaking
specifically to his disciples and others were listening in.
And now we're told that he speaks to the people. The people who
had heard his doctrine. The people who had seen his miracles. Those men and women who claimed
to believe God and claimed to be the people of God. These were folks who had a Bible
in their hand. I'm speaking so you get what
I'm talking about. There was a crowd in this day. They'd have a Bible in their
hand, and they'd have bumper stickers on their cars and religious
slogans. religious people, religious as
all get out. They claimed to be God's people.
They were morally upright people. They were folks who would be
on the side of every conservative cause imaginable. And yet he denounces these people
in exactly the same way as he denounced the scribes, the Pharisees,
and the Sadducees. Their teachers, their preachers,
their religious leaders were blind, ignorant, lost, hypocrites,
and their blindness and their ignorance was totally willful. And there's nothing wrong with
ignorance, unless it's willful ignorance. Because a man can't
see, he wouldn't accuse him of having any fault
because he can't see, unless he has perfectly good eyes and
puts his hands over his eyes and chooses not to see. Then
there's a fault. And our Lord speaks to these
people. They're the scribes and Pharisees and just declares them
to be hypocrites in the most scathing terms. And now he speaks
to these people who followed them, folks who sat in the church
pews. and listened to them and supported
them. And he said the same thing concerning
them. They, too, were ignorant. They,
too, were blind. But they were blind and ignorant
because they deliberately chose blindness and ignorance when
the Son of Righteousness was standing in front of them. It
wasn't that the things he taught and said weren't clear. That
wasn't the issue. It wasn't that the things that
he preached weren't crystal clear. That wasn't the issue. It wasn't
that they didn't understand what he said. That wasn't the issue.
They just would not bow to him and his truth. That was the issue. Both the religious leaders and
the people who followed them Our Lord denounces here and rebukes
as hypocrites. And this is the language he uses,
verse 54. And he said to the people, when you see the cloud arise
out of the west, straightway you say, there cometh shower. And so it is. And when you see
the south wind blow You say there will be heat, and it cometh to
pass. You hypocrites. You can discern
the face of the sky and of the earth. But how is it that you
do not discern this time? Now, as we look at these verses
of scripture and those that follow, I wanted this message to make
two statements. I hope to be crystal clear. And I hope to enforce these statements
by the plain statements of scripture and drive them home to your hearts
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Here's the first thing. It is our responsibility in this
day in the day in which we live, to judge that which is right,
and to judge that which is right by discerning the times in which
we live. Now, in this passage we have
read, our master is not contradicting that which is universally taught
in the scriptures. And I want to be crystal clear
here. Our Lord is not suggesting, and I do not suggest, that these
men might have had spiritual discernment by nature. He is
not suggesting, and I do not suggest, that these men could,
with just natural ability, perceive and understand spiritual things.
But our Lord is declaring that men and women just naturally
know that which is right when they're confronted with it. They
know what's right when they're confronted with it, when the
evidence is obvious. And this is what he says. He
says, you look in the sky and you see clouds coming in the
sky. You see the vapor gathering in
the sky. gets dark, overcast, a little
damp wind in the air. And you don't have to go in,
turn on 6 o'clock news, find out whether or not it's fixing
to rain. The boy's fixing to rain. Start looking for shelter. And it comes to pass. Now, it
doesn't take a nuclear physicist to understand that. We're going
to get wet if we stay out here. You feel the wind. warmly blow as the sun rises
and the skies are clear. I said, well, it's going to be
hot today. It's going to be hot today. When you step out on the
porch and drink your morning coffee and you're normally a
little bit chilled, you step out there and you break out in
the sweat because the humidity is so high, this is going to
be a hot day. Man, I wonder how they figured
that out. No. You judge those things by
just plain common sense facts, evidence that can't be denied. But our Lord here speaks to these
fellows and says, now you can understand those things. You
can look in the sky and see the clouds and say it's going to
rain. You can feel the warm breeze and know it's going to be hot.
How is it that you do not judge what is right? You're hypocrites. You're hypocrites. Now this is
what he's talking about. Our Lord Jesus came in the fullness
of time by divine appointment. And at the time of his appearing,
just a little more than three years before he left this world,
going back to the Father having accomplished redemption for us,
our Lord Jesus made a public declaration of who he was and
why he had come. He came to John the Baptist and
was baptized, and John the Baptist testified concerning him. And
all the prophecies of the Old Testament were manifestly, this
thing wasn't done in a corner. This wasn't some secret thing
that was hidden from the world. But all the prophecies concerning
the Messiah were manifestly fulfilled in him. Here God stood before
them in human flesh. He performed miracles such as
the prophets had said would be performed when Messiah comes.
He came at the fullness of time when the scepter had departed
from Judah, the lawgiver between his feet, and so that the Jewish
nation no longer had any legitimate standing. The Jewish nation was
a nation in bondage, servants to Rome. The nation had been
destroyed. It existed in name only. And
it was evident to everyone. Shallows coming. when the scepter
departs from Judah. Shalom must be here. It makes
sense, doesn't it? The time had come when Daniel's
70th week was fulfilled. Right here, as he speaks these
words, they are in the midst of Daniel's 70th week, spoken
of in Daniel chapter 9, in which it was said, Messiah the Prince
shall be cut off, but not for himself, for the people. He'll
make an end to transgressions. He'll put away sin. He'll bring
in everlasting righteousness. He'll magnify the law and make
it honorable. Right now, right now, John the Baptist had come. Elijah had come. Malachi prophesied
before this day comes, when the day of the Lord comes, when the
Messiah arrives, Elijah will come as a forerunner and tell
the folks, this is it, this is it, this is it. And our Lord
Jesus, we don't have to guess about this, He tells us plainly,
John the Baptist was Elijah. That's what it was. He came,
looked like Elijah, talked like Elijah, acted like Elijah, was
a prophet like Elijah. And when he saw the Son of God,
he said, behold, this is the one we've been looking for, the
Lamb of God, the Lamb of God. Now, our Lord Jesus, in his doctrine,
spoke with such clarity, with such authority. He spoke as never
a man spoke. This man spoke with authority.
He spoke like somebody who knew what he was talking about. He
didn't speak from theory. He didn't speak from what he
got from other men. He spoke the very Word of God
with authority and made such claims as being the Messiah and
being himself God in human flesh, that the folks who heard him
understood exactly what he said. John chapter 10, they took up
stones to stone him. And he was real good at this. He drew a line in the sand and
dared them to cross it. And the Lord Jesus said to them,
for what good work are you stoning me? What have I done? What did
I do? They said, we're not fixing to
kill you because of something you've done. We're fixing to
kill you because you, being a man, make yourself God. You have stood
right here and told us that you are God, for that we're going
to kill you." They understood exactly what he said. They understood
the claims that he had made. They knew the position they were
in. And yet, these men and women, in the day in which our Lord
stood before them, God manifest in the flesh. refused to acknowledge
Him as God, refused to bow to Him, refused to believe His Word,
refused to submit to His dominion, refused to acknowledge Him as
Lord, and rather turned and said, the devil's in you. They looked at him, put blinders
on. It doesn't matter that the scepter
is departed from Judah. It doesn't matter that Daniel's
70th week is now fulfilled. It doesn't matter that Elijah
has come and pointed him out. It doesn't matter that the prophets
are fulfilled, and the blind see, and the deaf hear, and the
lame are made to walk, and the dead rise again. That doesn't
matter! That doesn't matter. You! Hell
of a devil! We won't listen to you. We won't
listen to you. Why? Why? They chose their religious customs. Oh, how men love customs and
traditions. How they love them. I've told
you before, some years ago, one of the local churches over in
Gary County, a friend was working in church, a youth preacher,
and asked me to come. They were fixing to boot him out. And this
is what the fellow did. If I'm lying, let me drop dead
right now. He had a piece of paper in his
hand. He walked down the aisle. It was crowded. I mean, when you're
having a business meeting, fixing to kick a preacher out, you can
get folks who have been in the grave for 100 years to come to it.
It was packed. He stepped out of the back, right
behind where I was sitting, walked down the front waving a piece
of paper, and said, I don't care what this book says. This is
what we believe, and had their church created. Doesn't matter
what the Bible says. This is what we believe. This
is what we're going to do. That was in a Baptist church.
Folks love customs and traditions. Love them. And ignore the word
of God. Let me tell you something about
creeds and confessions. Folks, sometimes they'll accuse
me and others like me, you with me, where you're afraid to put
what you believe on paper. They don't know us very well,
do they? That's not the problem at all. Once you sit down and write a
creed and pin your name to it and everybody sign it, then,
buddy, the issue becomes defending our creed and our religion. We're
not going to acknowledge we're wrong. Not occasionally, every solitary
time something arises in the book of God that conflicts with
that creed, men will choose the creed and not the book. Every
time. They preferred the approval and
acceptance of men to the approval and acceptance of God. If we
acknowledge Him, if we believe Him, if we bow to Him, the scribes
and the Pharisees and the Sadducees are going to turn everybody against
us. They're going to speak bad of us and we can't have that.
Remember that fellow who was healed of his blindness? And
the Jews, they called his mom and daddy in to counsel. Mom
and daddy said, Man, we don't know what's happening to him.
Something bad's wrong. He's seized now. Ask him what happened. Ask
him. We're not about to take sides
with him, our son, who was blind and now seized, in the face of
these fellas. Ain't going to happen. They loved
the praise of men more than the praise of God. Their love for
God was a pretense. Their claim to follow him was
a pretense. Their claim of faith was a pretense,
a show, a facade, a fake. And our Lord sticks his finger
right in the heart of the sword and says, you're hypocrites.
You're hypocrites. They loved religion. Everybody
does. Everybody loves religion. The
world's full of it. They loved religion. Problem
was they hated God. And they were unwilling to pay
the price of following the despised Nazarene. They wouldn't do it. Our Lord
had just declared plainly that He came to send a sword. And
father would be divided against son, and son against father,
mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. Families
and friends would be divided. Now, if you follow me, You would
have to take up your cross and follow me in the teeth of these
things. And they said, no, thank you.
No, thank you. And we're living in exactly the
same day. Things haven't changed one bit. They've just gotten
worse. There's a brief statement tucked away. You don't have to
look at it. In 1 Chronicles 12, 32. David had been established as
king. Saul was dead. But there was a struggle in the
kingdom. The sons of Saul were still around.
And they wanted David's head. They wanted the throne. Issues
had to be faced, dealt with, and settled with clarity, with
decisiveness. And we read that the children
of Issachar were men that had understanding of the times to
know what Israel ought to do. Oh, how desperately we need such
men today. The kingdom of God, the cause
of God was under assault. And these men of Issachar understood
What was at stake? They understood that the glory
of God, the truth of God, the people of God, the welfare of
God's kingdom was at stake. And they stepped forward decisively
and said, fellas, this is what we've got to do. This is what
we've got to do. They didn't take a vote on it.
They didn't ask anybody else's opinion. They just said, this
is what must be done. And they did it. I repeat, we
desperately need such men today. I look around us, I'm not terribly
ignorant of what's going on around us in our society. I read the
newspaper every day, at least quite up the stomach of it. I
watch the news, watching a little bit just before we came over
here. And I wonder what on earth is
going on? What's going on? in the world
around us, in the religious world, what's going on? What possesses
the minds of men in this generation? Shelby and I, late last night,
saw a news comment. I think it was last night. Some
school system, they're taking little children on a field trip.
And one of the fathers came dressed like a woman, and they let him
escort the children. and the principals in the school and
the school system. Well, we're not going to do anything
about that. That's his right. What's going on? What's wrong
with this society? What's wrong with it? Not just
the American society, the whole of the society in the Western
world in which we live. What on earth is going on? Let's
judge and discern. and seek to understand the times
in which we live. And I ask you to do so. I ask
you to join me in doing so with one basis of judgment, just one,
just one. I don't care what Sigmund Freud
or his followers say. I don't care what the educators
say. I'm not even interested. I don't care what the news media
says. It doesn't matter. And I care less what the religious
leaders of the world say. They're irrelevant, totally irrelevant,
totally irrelevant. There's only one thing that matters.
What does God say in his word? That's the only thing that matters.
Let's look at some scripture. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans
chapter 1. How on this earth have we come
to the place where men call good evil and evil good and justify
it in every segment of society? How have we come to a stage in
society where many women who claim to be the sons of God,
who claim to believe God, who tote a Bible with them in their
hands, put it on their desk at work. They read it. They read
it and memorize it. Go to church two, three, four
times a week. How on earth have we come into a society where
this kind of people look at every imaginable evil and refuse to
call it what it is and deal with it as it is, but rather justify
it and engage in it? Now, number one, we are living. right smack dab in the midst
of a reprobate age. Folks ask me, do you believe
America is going to be judged of God? And my response is, no
sir, America is being judged of God. We live in a generation
under the judgment of Almighty God. And I'm not talking about
the attacks from Iraq. That's just a side issue. I'm
talking about things far more serious. Look in Romans 1, verse
18. What is it about the time in
which we live? What is the one thing that is obvious to anybody
who can see past the end of his pug nose? What's the one thing
that's obvious? The wrath of God is revealed. That's what's obvious. The wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold, that is, hold down, suppress the truth of God. The wrath of God is revealed
against these fellows. And we're told in verse 20, for
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead. Now watch this.
So that they are without excuse. When I was younger, I used to
hear Ralph Barnard make a statement. He made it frequently. And I
didn't understand what he said. He said, if men would walk in
the light God gave them, God would give them more light. Problem is they won't walk in
it. They deliberately hold it down because of the depravity
of their hearts. But that makes them without excuse. In other words, God's eternal
power, his Godhead, revealed in heaven and revealed in your
heart by nature, and you refuse to acknowledge his divinity,
refuse to acknowledge his eternal dominion, refuse to acknowledge
and obey what he's put in your heart by nature. Then you're
utterly without excuse utterly without excuse read on verse
20 or verse 21 Because now Paul's explaining himself When they
knew God that is when they knew what the new of it When they
knew his eternal power in God here when his law was written
on their hearts They glorified him not as God Neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Now watch
this. Watch this. If this doesn't describe the
religion of this age, nothing under the sun will. They changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
Oh, but preach, let's talk about those folks over in Africa and
New Guinea who worship stumps and sticks and stones. Yeah,
let's talk about them. And let's talk about Baptist
folks and Catholic folks and Protestant folks and Methodist
folks and Episcopal folks and all kinds of folks who worship
an imaginary God they've whittled out of their own depraved mind
and made Him just like themselves, a useless, helpless God. Read
on, verse 24. Wherefore? What's the problem with this
age? How come we've come to such gross immorality? How is it that
homosexuality, fornication, adultery, theft, drunkenness, prostitution, just name it, have
come to be all right? if not good. How is that? The blame is to be laid at the
doorstep of Baptist churches and others. That's the problem. They have presented men with
a useless God like themselves. Now look at the language. It's
not my word, it's God's. Wherefore? This is the reason
we're in a mess, we're in. God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own
bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into
a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.
They're will-worshippers, man-worshippers unto vile... I'm sorry, who is
blessed forever. Amen. Verse 26. For this cause,
this is the reason. God gave them up unto vile affections. For even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another, men with men, working that which
is unseemly, and receiving in themselves exactly what they
have earned, that recompense of their error which was meat."
Verse 28. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, they said, goodbye, God. They
said, we don't want anything to do with you. They said, we'll
cast your bands asunder. We won't heed you. We won't acknowledge
you. We won't worship you. We'll use
you. But that's all. Since they didn't
want God, God said, all right, you don't have to have me. We
don't. God gave them up. to a reprobate
mind to do those things they had to invent, those things that
were not convenient. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, and that
they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Why on earth would anyone attempt
in any way to justify the utter ungodly behavior of this perverse
society? Because they like it. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. What's
going on? We live in a reprobate age. We live in a generation under
the judgment of God. We live in a generation that
God has deceived with a strong delusion in his judgment. Paul's talking about the second
coming of Christ, folks, who said, well, the Lord's already
come. And Paul said, oh, no. He said, don't let anybody fool
you. He said, Christ is not coming until there's a falling away
first. And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
Now pick up at verse 4. He's talking about antichrist.
And he's not talking about some Weird out-of-space monster with
six six six stamped on his face and stamped on his head You're
not talking about credit cards have six six six on them. He's
not talking about everybody using the same kind of money That's
not what he's talking about. He's talking about Antichrist He's
not talking just about the Pope though. Certainly that's included
Don't be misunderstood. He's not talking about Saddam
Hussein though. Certainly he's included That's
not what I'm talking about He's not talking about a single man,
Lindsay. He's talking about any man given
over to a single system. Any man. The man of sin be revealed. The son of perdition. The son
of hell. Who is it? He is that man who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.
Who says, God, step aside, I'll take over. or that is worshipped,
so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing that
he himself is God. Man sets up. himself in the religious
world in which we live. We're Baptists. I'll use Baptist
for an example. In Baptist churches all over
the world, they set themselves up and worship men as God, declaring
that the determining factor and the depending factor in all things
is not the will of God and the work of God, but the will and
the work of men. They say, we'll worship ourselves
as God. Remember ye not, verse 5, that
when I was with you, I told you these things? And now you know,
you know what withholdeth, restrains,
prevents that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery
of iniquity doth already work. John said many antichrists have
already gone out into the world. Paul said the mystery of iniquity
is already at work. This is not something that's
going to just suddenly come in one figure. No, no, no. This
is a general growing leaven of ungodliness begun already here,
and it's going to erupt into a massive worldwide thing. Only
he who now restrains will restrain until he be taken out of the
way. Oh my God! That explains what's going on.
That explains what's going on. God takes away the influence
of His Spirit and His Word and his gospel, and his name. And here's the mess we're in.
And then, shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth. God's throne is not in danger.
Paul said, now, everything's going to be all right. Going
to be all right. I'm just telling you what's going on. The Lord
is going to consume him with the spirit of his mouth and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming. Babylon is going
to fall. No question about that. The gates of hell will be destroyed. Even him who is coming is after
the working of Satan. Well, preacher, how do you explain
all these signs and wonders and miracles and these fellows who
perform miracles and heal the sick and all those things? whether
they're real or fake doesn't really matter. That really doesn't
matter, Ron. Doesn't matter a flip whether
they're real or fake. Doesn't matter. Folks who are
deceived by them want to be. They want to be. Folks who are
deceived by them are deceived by them because they put blinders
over their eyes, and they put plugs in their ears, and they
refuse to hear and refuse to believe. No, I don't feel sorry
for them. No, sir. How do you explain them?
Well, Paul kindly explains it here. When Messiah came, when
the Christ came, the prophets were fulfilled, declaring signs
and wonders and miracles performed by him and in his name, giving
evidence that he's the Messiah. When Antichrist arrives on the
scene, he comes after the working of
Satan with power and signs and lying wonders, an attempt to
mimic the work of God. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness, that which men call righteousness, God calls
unrighteousness. The religion that men call that
which makes men righteous, they mistake morality for righteousness. God calls it unrighteousness
in them that perish. How come? Why? Why do men go
to hell? Because they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause,
God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. Many women often ask me about
things and say, well, how could anybody believe that? How could anybody be taken in
by that? Somebody asked me the other night
about Benny Hinn, that funny looking fella from down in Texas. Rich one. How could anybody be
taken in by that fella? When God sends delusion, God
sends delusion. That's how. That's how. That they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now, lest you should pop your suspenders and strut your stuff
and say, well, I ain't like that. Man, I wouldn't believe that
stuff. I wouldn't fall for that. Which of you here hasn't fallen
for it? You did, didn't you? Few of you were raised in the
sound of the gospel. Most of you have fallen for it.
Hook, line, and sinker. And now you see. And you're not
deluded by it anymore. Not even tempted to pay any attention
to it anymore. You look at it. You smile with
tears. You're hurt for folks. When God sends blindness, God
sends blindness. And the only reason Ron Wood
ain't out there speaking in tongues, and waving his hands, and jumping
pews, and knocking folks in the head, and calling them in, slaying
in the spirit, and performing miracles. The only reason you're
not in some heathen country worshiping a stump. The only reason you're
not involved in papacy, or in Islam, or in Judaism. The only
reason you're not involved in some mystic Hindu cult. The only
reason you're not, don't put on one of those funny looking
costumes, shave your head, and go sell poppies. How come? How come? How come you're not any more
duped by free will works religion? Because God Almighty chose you. There ain't no other reason.
Look at it. But we're bound to give thanks
unto God. Always for you, brethren, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel and called you to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast." Jude speaks of men of this age, men who speak evil of things
that they know not. And this is how he categorizes
them. He says, they follow the way of Cain, the era of Balaam,
and the gainsaying of Korah. The way of Cain. The way of Cain. Anybody have
to guess about it? It's the way of works, religion.
Is that plain enough? Anybody who tells you that you
can gain access to God, get an approach to God, have something
to do with God on the basis of what you do, he's a Cainite.
He's a follower of Cain. The era of Balaam. I'll tell
you what you do. You search through this book.
And find me some point at which Balaam ever said anything to
outright deny any truth of Holy Scripture. Find it. I challenge you. Find it. He
never denied that God is God, never denied that God's on His
throne, never denied God's sovereignty, never denied God's blessing of
grace, never denied the meanings of the types and sacrifices in
the Old Testament, never denied God's election, never denied
the authority of God's Word, not one time. And yet Balaam
is held forth throughout the scriptures as one of the most
deceitful of all false prophets. What? What? How can that be? And Balaam just
said, fellas, let's get along. Let's get along. Just because
these fellas worship Stubbs and we worship Jehovah, no reason
why we can't get along. Just because these fellas worship
at the altar of man's free will and we worship at the altar of
God, no reason we can't get along. Just because these fellas say
that God's a pygmy, we say God's God, no reason we can't get along.
Just because these fellas say the word of God's a myth, and
we say the word of God's true, no reason we can't get along.
Just because these fellas promote every kind of evil imaginable,
and we don't like it, well, we wouldn't want to judge them,
would we? We wouldn't want to condemn that.
Oh, that's not nice. So what we will do is we will
mix the worship of God with the worship of idols. And everybody
would get along fine. We'll say, what's that fellow's
name they're looking for? Bin Laden? Bin Haydn, something
or other? Well, he's not truly a representation
of the Islam religion. They worship God just like we
do. Let's get along. in this country wearing a suit
and tie, standing in the pulpit of a Baptist church, and say,
well, he denies God's sovereignty, denies God's election, denies
Christ's redemption, denies the Spirit's call, denies God's grace,
tells men that salvation is by their will and by their works.
But that's not so bad. We wouldn't want to condemn that. Let's get along. And we will
mingle the worship of God with the worship of idols. the worst
form of religious deception in the world, the era of Balaam,
the gainsaying of Korah. What did Korah do? What did he
do? He said, Moses, you've got no
right. To stand before us and speak
to us the word of God as you do, you make us feel bad. We're
all holy just like you are. We're all priests to the Lord
just like you are. We have the same understanding.
We don't need God's prophet. We don't need God's voice. We
don't need you. These are horrid days of apostasy,
times of unparalleled evil, moral, political, spiritual. Times of
horrible indifference, lukewarmness. I've been trying to think, get
some grip on what our Lord meant when he said, the cause evil abounds, the love
of many shall wax cold. Could he be saved? That we become so influenced
by the evil all around us that our love for him wanes? I expect he could. How true the words. These are times of universal
compromise. The whole religious world attempts
to compromise with everything and everybody so we can get along. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something. Unity with anybody at the price
of God's truth will cost you your soul more. Anybody.