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Ecclesiastes 9 – I hope to get through this whole chapter. Basically it is an exhortation but I did do a word-by-word in verse 1 and after that we will just go through it. The Lord showed me this chapter today when I was asking Him what to preach on and I found it very interesting because in this chapter we find instruction from the Lord that there is no hereafter. And of course the catchword of the church today is where are you going when you die. Are you going to Heaven or are you going to Hell? Just to jump ahead for you, in verse 10 it clearly says do whatever you have to do now and do it with all your might because there is no activity – and I will go over that – there is no activity. That word that is translated no work. It means there is no action, there is no thought processing, nothing happens after you die. There is an absence of activity after you die. So we will go through the whole chapter.

The Lord just never ceases to amaze me. I tell you again, brethren, we are in the last days. Judgment is falling upon the church. They are going to have to give up their false doctrine or the Lord will completely strip them of everything to do with His Kingdom. Right now He is very much working in their midst but the day will come and it will happen a man at a time, it will happen a ministry at a time, that the Lord will go to them and say: Now look, you are preaching a false doctrine. I want you to change. And one by one those who change will go towards the Kingdom and those who cannot or those who will not because of pride will be turned to the sword. I tell you the truth. Let us try this. I found it an interesting study.

Ecclesiastes 9:1: “For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.” Now that is not a particularly good translation, so let us try and find out what the Lord is saying here. For all this – we are going to be translating this concerning this. That is what he is saying. Concerning this matter. That is what he is saying. Concerning this matter. Concerning what matter? “For all this I considered in my heart.” The Hebrew word translated considered is Strong’s 5414 and it means, or one of its definitions can be to teach. It can be translated to teach. For the purposes of this verse in Ecclesiastes 9:1, we are going to translate it I found out. In other words, I was taught. I was taught or I found out. And the phrase in my heart – “For all this I considered in my heart” – that Hebrew word translated in can also be translated to. So what it is saying is that I taught or I found out or I taught my own soul.

Those of you that have been reading the Scriptures for several years may be aware that David in particular spoke to his soul. He said oh, my soul, why are you cast down? So there is a distinct separation – well, let me ask you a question before we go on. If David spoke to his soul, who is the real David? His spirit. Amen. We are a spirit man. We possess a soul and we live in a body. Our soul is our emotions and our spirit is our rational mind. Now, in some people, and a lot of people in the world who have not been strongly disciplined as children to live after the rational thinking of their own intelligence and also it usually works together that they were not disciplined adequately when they were children and I am not faulting anyone’s parents. Some children just have a lot of rebellion, but in raising children, the combination of disciplining them – and the Scripture speaks about physical discipline – not abuse, but physical discipline, along with the training of the ability to think and reason problems out – if that training is not given at an early age we wind up with adults whose emotions are ruling their life.

Brethren, your rational mind is supposed to be ruling your life. Your rational mind is supposed to be speaking to your soul, which is your emotions, and saying not now, later, no, we will do it another way, be still. I rebuke my soul all the time. All the time I rebuke my soul. Say you are trying to make me feel I want to do that. That is going to get me into trouble. Get out of my mind. I will not even listen to you. So we have a lot of people in our society today whose lives are being run by their emotions instead of their rational mind and anyone who is in that condition has severe problems in their life. That is like having your horse tell you whether to go left or right. You have a problem if your emotions are running your life because your emotions do not care whether or not you are about to be destroyed or whether your behavior will destroy you. Your emotions just want to be satisfied. Those of us that have been studying here for a while know that one of the manifestations of Hell is in the soul realm, which is the pit, which is our emotions.

There is a Scripture that says: Hell hath enlarged itself. If you try to satisfy your emotions you will spend the rest of your life following destructive behavior because your emotions will never be satisfied. If you are dealing with lust of any kind, lust for anything, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life, whatever you do to make yourself eel good, you have to do it again the next day. We have to do it again five minutes later. We have to do it again next month. But you have to do it again. Your lust is never satisfied and your lust is in your soul. Your emotions are never satisfied. God’s answer to this is to be filled up with Christ, which is a permanent abiding manifestation of His life, which I believe the Scripture teaches when it finally develops in us to a mature degree will totally satisfy every need that we have, spiritual, emotional and physical. And once we get it, we will not have to get it again and again and again. And this need that makes us to go out searching for that which will satisfy us again and again and again makes us dependent people. If there is something that you need that you have to either get money to buy or that you have to manipulate some other human being to agree with you on or to engage with you in, that makes you a dependent person. You have a need that only be satisfied with another person and you have to get yourself another person for whatever it is. If you are lonely and you like to talk. It could be anything. The whole spectrum of lust.

Now, look. God wants to make you self-contained. He wants to grow in you and develop in you to such a degree that your every need is met by His abiding presence. I want to go over this because I found out a couple of weeks ago that someone had misunderstood what I was saying. So let me make this clear. See, people, I really like you to talk to me because that is how I find out when I have not really made you understand what I am saying. Look, when I say that your every need will be met by Christ, I am not suggesting to you that you should have no friends, that you should have no boyfriend, you should have no girlfriend, or that you should have no husband or wife. I am not saying that. For so long as we are still imperfect Christ will provide your every need. Now, if it is His intention to not fill you up to overflowing with Himself at this time, He will give you what you need. So when I say to you Christ will be your every need, that means He will send the woman of His choice, He will send the husband of His choice, He will send the friend for you of His choice. So that does not mean you have to be totally alone for the rest of your life. He will either fill your need from within you or He will choose the person that will fill that need.

And I know when I was going through this stage of maturing in my life I would have a need. I would be lonely. I would want to talk to somebody. Whatever that need was, I would say look, Lord, I am feeling stressed out right now. I really want to talk to somebody. And I know that at that stage of my life I had a little bit of some compulsive talking. I would just call up anybody I could get on the phone and I usually wound up getting attacked from their unconscious mind and I said Lord, I really feel a need to talk to somebody. Would you send me somebody to talk to? And you know the phone would ring? The phone would ring within an hour and it would be a godly conversation and I would not be getting attacked from their carnal mind. So when I say the Lord will provide your every need sometimes He will provide it through a person. It is important that you know that. God has not necessarily called you to isolation. Possibly for a period. I was called to isolation for – well, I was called to isolation for a long time, but of course I brought forth this doctrine. John was in Patmos also and he was in isolation. Everybody is not the same. You cannot compare yourself to me.

So please know that the Lord will meet your every need. Some things spiritually and some things through other people. And He is going to meet your need if you will just give Him a chance. You see? The tendency in men is to just rise up and do it yourself. Do it yourself. Do it yourself. And that is how you get into trouble because when you rise up and do it yourself you never pick God’s choice for you, most likely because you do not even know who God’s choice is. He may be bringing someone else into your life. And it is a good opportunity to exercise self-control and self-discipline when you wait on God. In faith. Wait on God in faith. You pray all the prayers you have to pray and then you, if you are looking for a job or if you have a need, you could make some inquiries and open the door for God to move. You have to wait on God in faith. When you run out to do it yourself you are hindering this move of the Spirit and you could miss what He is doing for you because you are too busy doing it yourself. But of course, I understand this is very hard and it is something that we all have to learn in Christ. To stand in faith, knowing that God will do it for us.

I got off on a real tangent there. Let us try this again. For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this. So we are saying that the writer of Ecclesiastes, which some people say is King Solomon, he is saying that he teaches his heart that his spirit man, his rational mind, teaches his emotions. The Hebrew word translated declare means to search out. Righteous – the Hebrew word translated righteous is 6662 and it means to be just and honest towards other men. This is not a Hebrew word which means the righteousness that is granted in Christ. It means to do the best you can, to be just and honest towards other men. The Lord will make a judgment by discerning the intents of your heart. Whether you are really doing the best you can to be just and honest towards all men. And if you are doing the best He has enabled you to do at this time in your life, He calls you righteous. It is not a complete righteousness, but He knows that is all you are capable of. All this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise – and this Hebrew word translated wise is Strong’s 2450. It means to have the ability to judge between good and evil.

We have been talking a lot about that this last year. The Lord started talking about that about a year ago. How important it is to discern between good and evil. It is easy to discern good and evil behavior. We know what is destructive and what is constructive. But to discern between the good spirit and the evil spirit is not so easy because sometimes the evil spirit does good works. What is the name of the evil spirit?

            [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Satan.

Satan, manifesting as his carnal mind. Sometimes the carnal mind does good works. He does good works and it is hard to tell the difference between Christ doing the works and the carnal mind doing the works. You cannot tell by the works. You have to learn how to try the spirit. And if you cannot do it, ask God. If you want wisdom, ask God. He will give it to all who ask liberally. So that is what this word wise means – that you can tell when it is Christ. It is important to be able to know when it is Christ. And their works. This word works is Strong’s 5652 and there was very little written about it. It just means deeds. Works, the kind of deeds you do. But it is from 5647 which means to labor or to work. But it is also the same Hebrew word that is translated to dress in the garden in Genesis 2:15. Let me read you the verse. Strong’s says – well, let me read you the verse. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Strong’s says this word can be translated to enslave or to keep in bondage. Those of you who have been with us for a while may recall that we discussed that Scripture and we found out that God’s instruction to Adam was to enslave his soul. God said to the spirit man, Adam – does anyone remember the name of the spirit man that was in Adam before the fall? Christ. Christ. God said to Christ, who was the mind, who was Adam’s mind, enslave your soul.

Brethren, God is saying that to you today. Enslave your soul. Do not let it make you engage in destructive behavior because in Christ I have given you authority and power over your soul. Now bring that thing into submission. Get a leash on it and ride it like a horse. Do not let it ride you. So that is the word that is being used here. For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. I am not going to waste too much time on this.

I am just going to give you the Alternate Translation of the first half of Ecclesiastes 9:1: I searched out this whole matter of the ability of righteous and wise men to enslave their ungodly nature and found out that Christ is in control of it. He searched out this matter. How come wise men can enslave their nature? And what it does not say here is how come foolish men cannot? Let me tell you again, there is no insult in this. Scripture is very clear. Some are wise and some are foolish and in Christ, if you are foolish, get wise.

Amplified Translation: First half of Ecclesiastes 9:1: I searched out this whole matter and found out that men who were righteous and wise because they have a relationship with Christ enslave their ungodly nature. Wisdom, brethren, all true wisdom is in Christ. Get Christ. Let that seed become engrafted in you. Pray that God engrafts that seed in you. And you shall become righteous and you shall become wise and you shall understand the need – you shall find out that you have an ungodly nature, you shall understand the need to enslave it and in Christ you shall find the power to do so.

Here again I would like to relate back to the exhortation from earlier. I did not think of putting this on the exhortation, but another difference between old order and new order deliverance is this. In old order deliverance God just snaps your problem away from you. He just takes it away from you like you would take that dirt out of that infant’s hand. But when God moves you into new order ministry He requires you to what? Anybody?

            [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

No? Let me give you the question again. In old order deliverance God just snaps the problem out of your hand like you were a baby. But you still need to repent for that. But in new order deliverance He requires you to? Anybody? Yeah. Overcome. Overcome. Overcome. He lets this thing manifest in you and He says hold it back, step on it, put it under your feet, tread on it. I am giving you the power. You do it. You do it. And if you fall down, pick yourself up, get back on the horse.

So we see in Ecclesiastes 9:1 that the preacher is saying I searched out this whole matter. How come some men can control their ungodly nature and others cannot? He says I found it out that the men who are righteous and wise because they have a relationship with Christ enslave their ungodly nature. It is in Christ. It is in Christ. An ability or the ability to enslave your ungodly nature, which is surely killing you, is in Christ. You must get into a relationship with Christ and ask Him to grow in you and to build in you and make you wise and make you righteous and strengthen you where you are weak. And if your emotions are ruling your life, where are you weak? Anybody?

            The soul?

Yeah. In your - that is close. In your mind. In your mind because it is the mind that is supposed to be controlling your soul but your soul is doing whatever it wants. You see, the Lord expects our soul to be weak. Our soul is expected to be weak. But if you have a weak mind then you are the blind leading the blind and you are both falling in the ditch. You have to become strong in your mind so that you can take authority over your soul and save it. And all strength is in Christ. You must get a new mind.

Continuing with the second half of Ecclesiastes 9:1: “No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.” Now, I do not know about you, but that makes no sense to me at all. The Hebrew word translated man is Adam. Adam. And the Interlinear says the whole of Adam, meaning all of the many members of Adam. That means all of the people, all of the men of humanity. Knows or acquainted with. The Hebrew word translated either is Strong’s 1571. It can be translated both. The Hebrew word translated love is Strong’s 160 and it is speaking about human love, especially between the sexes, a man’s love for a woman or vice versa. It is also used of Jehovah’s love towards Israel and it is also used to describe a beloved female. We are going to translate this Hebrew word for this verse as beloved female or the Lord’s wife or the righteous living soul. We are God’s wife. Amen?

The Hebrew word translated hatred is Strong’s 8130 and this word means a female enemy. We found this in the prophets a couple of times before. A female enemy. In the Book of Daniel in one of the later chapters it talks about the worship of the god of forces. I think this is the same word. I know if you check that out it is talking about a female – it may not be the same word, but it is talking about a female deity. It is translated the god of forces. Look, brethren, God is the only complete male in the universe. There is nobody that is male to God. Let me go over this for a minute. Spiritually speaking, sexuality – even in humanity, it is relative. I am not talking about physical now. I am speaking about spiritual sexuality. It has to do with authority. The one who has the authority is male and the one who is under the authority is female. In the army, the captain is female to the general and male to the sergeant. Spiritual sexuality. It is an authority issue. It has nothing to do with your marriage or your human physical relationships. It is the condition of your mind. God is the only one in the universe that is not female to anybody. He is the top. There is nothing higher than Him. He is male all of the time. So God has a female enemy and she is spiritual. Anybody remember who she is?

            Eve?

Who? No.

            [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

God has a female enemy. Who is she? The soul realm, yes. The whole soul. The living soul is God’s enemy. She is in rebellion against Him. She is trying to take His authority away and does not the New Testament say that we were alienated from God in our minds? We were His enemy. The enemy of God is female and she is female in relationship to Him. She is the living soul and she is, individually speaking, our carnal mind.

Alternate Translation: The second half of Ecclesiastes 9:1: Neither the righteous members of the living soul nor Christ’s female enemies know that the whole living soul shall be restored to the correct moral order. Now let me go over that and show you how I got that. No man knoweth – we are saying the whole living soul because that Hebrew word is Adam – no man knoweth. And that word either is translated both. Love either the beloved the woman or the female enemy. Adam, the whole living soul, neither the righteous members, neither the beloved one nor the members of the living soul that are God’s enemy know. Everybody OK? What do they know? I want to suggest to you that they know – what they do not know – what they do not know is that the whole living soul is going to be restored to the correct moral order. For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and their works are all righteous as they are because of God and no man. And what it is saying is that neither the righteous – neither the ones that are in control of their emotions or the ones that are not in control of their emotions, both of them do not know that God is going to restore the entire living soul to the correct moral order.

So he is saying, all you Pharisees out there that have control over your emotions, you had better not be condemning those that do not have control over their emotions because this is just the way that it is right now. There are some people that have it and some people that do not and you all just fallen. We will find out a little further down that the Lord is saying whether you are in control of your life or whether you are not in control of your life you are filled with envy. We will get to that in a few minutes. We are all fallen. And the true test as to whether or not Christ is in you is the way you relate to your fellow man and God will be sending all kinds of tests upon you to find out what you are really made out of.

Let me read you the whole Alternate Translation: I searched out this whole matter and found out that men who were righteous and wise because they have a relationship with Christ enslave their ungodly nature. But neither the righteous members of the living soul nor Christ’s female enemies know that the whole living soul shall be restored to the correct moral order. I switched it all around. Try this. I searched out this whole matter and found out that neither the righteous members of the living soul nor the men who were alienated from God in their minds, which are the female ones, know that the whole living soul is to be restored to the correct moral order, but men who have a relationship with Christ become righteous and wise and enslave their ungodly emotions. Let me read you that again. I searched out this whole matter and found out that neither the righteous members of the living soul nor the men who were alienated from God in their minds know that the whole living soul is to be restored to the correct moral order, but men who have a relationship with Christ become righteous and wise and enslave their ungodly nature.

Verse 2: “All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.” The Hebrew word translated righteous is the same as in verse 1. It means the one who treats his fellow man well. The Hebrew word translated wicked means guilty, liable to punishment, and that means human beings who are not treating their fellow man just and well. They are liable to punishment. And who is the punisher down here in Hell? Who executes judgment down here in Hell?

            Satan.

Satan. Amen. He is real good at his job. He is good at his job, man. He will get you. The word good – the Hebrew word translated good is referring to fertile land. It means the soul that is ruled by Christ. And clean – well, let me get you back here again. All things come alike to all. It means the same things happen whether you are righteous or you are not righteous. We are all down here in Hell. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked. There is the same – we are in the same place for those who are just and honest to their fellow man and those who mistreat their fellow man. We are all down here in Hell. Some of us just have it a little better than others, but no one has it good as far as God is concerned. Spiritually speaking, we are all going to die. No one has it good.

To the good and to the clean, the same things are happening. To those who have Christ for their mind, making their soul good, and who are clean – this Hebrew word translated clean means unmixed or unalloyed. Now what are we mixed with? First of all, let me remind you the Scripture says do not mix your seed. Do not mix your seed. Remember, everything that happened in the Old – every instruction in the Old Testament is a type of spiritual things. Christ, the seed of Christ, is not to be mixing with the carnal mind. So this Hebrew word translated clean, it means somebody who is not committing adultery with the carnal mind. Christ is ruling their soul and they are not obeying their carnal mind. So he says the same events are happening to the one whose mind is Christ and whose soul is enslaved and the same thing is happening to them as is happening to the unclean, the one who does not have their soul under control and to him that makes the sacrifice as to him that does not sacrifice.

What is he saying? We are all dying. Your current life, your day-to-day life maybe a little easier or a little more pleasant if you have a relationship with Christ and if you are controlling or enslaving your soul, but everybody dies. That is what he is saying. The same things happens to the one that sacrifices as the one who sacrifices not. Now this word sacrifice, the Hebrew word translated sacrifice, it is not speaking about the priest offering the sacrifice but it is specifically speaking of a private person who brings sacrifices at their own expense and I suggest to you he is talking about the one who is sacrificing his own soul. The one who is giving up the pleasures of sin so that he can serve Christ. You will both die. All your religious works, all you Pharisees, everyone here on this message. Do not shut it off. You are all Pharisees. Your religious work is not going to cause you to enter into eternal life. There is nothing that you can do to stop yourself from dying and that includes making up some silly story that you are going to Heaven to live in a mansion after you die. Everybody that is born into this world dies. And there is only one thing that is going to stop us from dying and that is the conception and the maturation and the full birth of Christ in your mind. Jesus Christ finished His part of the plan on the cross when the Father raised Him from the dead. Now He must get inside of your mind for it to do you any good at all. I did not do any Alternate Translation on that one. I just did not have the time. I am sorry.

Continuing with verse 3: “This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” The word evil is the same – this word evil. This is a plural word. The Hebrew word translated evil is plural and based on what I found out – it is either in verse 4 or 5 – we will get to it; I am going to suggest to you that it is speaking about the divided carnal mind. Now remember, Christ is not divided. What that means is that it is not possible for Christ in you to be thinking or behaving differently than Christ in me. Now, if two of us claim that we have the Christ mind and that we are thinking and behaving out of it and we are not thinking the same thing, either one or both of us is deceived. Why? Because Christ is not divided. Christ says the same thing, does the same thing and acts the same way wherever He is manifesting. But the carnal mind is divided. Two individuals can have very different opinions, both opinions valid, not necessarily ungodly. But the carnal mind is divided. That is why we have wars on the national level and disagreements and arguments on the personal level. Because the carnal mind is divided and also it has many demons in it. I therefore suggest to you that this Hebrew word translated evil is speaking about the divided carnal mind with all of its demons.

This is an evil among all things. The words is an are not in the Hebrew. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun. The Hebrew word translated done means to labor or to work at anything and under the sun means something that is done on earth. Under the sun means not in Heaven but on earth. And the Hebrew word translated event means that which happens by choosing a lot. Now, you might recall that in Bible times, or I should not say in Bible times, under the old covenant, with natural Israel, when they wanted to hear the Lord speak clearly in areas that required choosing a man or choosing who would get an assignment or choosing who would receive something, they drew lots. Today sometimes we call it drawing straws. Who gets the short straw, you go. But what a lot of people do not understand is that under the old covenant, when people drew lots or took a number out of a pot to find out who was it, that God was completely controlling who drew the short straw. Natural Israel knew that God was completely controlling who drew the right number and it was His way of clearly telling the men of Israel without anybody saying I do not agree that that was the Spirit of God. I do not agree that that was the anointing. I do not agree that the Lord chose Sister A or Sister B. I have a different opinion. My discernment is different. Under the old covenant they drew lots and whoever got the number that made them the winner or the loser, depending on what they were drawing for, it was recognized by everybody that God had chosen that person. So this Scripture or this word event is speaking about that. That which happens by choosing a lot. And I do have an Alternate Translation on this one.

The first half of verse 3: All of the evil men who are laboring on the earth are experiencing the same fallen condition. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun. There is one event unto all. All of the evil men who are laboring on the earth are experiencing the same fallen condition. Continuing with the second half of verse 3: “yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” I thought they went to Heaven or Hell. OK.

The Hebrew word translated evil is as above and the Hebrew word translated madness is Strong’s 1986. It means to be dissolved, to break in pieces and I want to suggest to you that this phrase is speaking about the dissolution and the breaking up of Christ’s bones. “Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil.” It is full of the carnal mind which is evil. And the dissolved bones and madness, or the dissolved bones of Christ is in their heart while they live in this existence. And after that they go to the dead. You see? What is another name for the broken up or the dissolved bones of Christ that is in our heart while we live this existence? What is in us in our fallen condition which is that part of the dead Christ? You know?

            [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

Yes, thank you. Thank you. The human spirit. Our human spirit. Our human spirit is that which is a remainder or a drop of or the residue of the dead bones of the righteous Christ, which existed before the fall. This Scripture is saying that all of us, which is all of humanity, whose mind is the carnal mind, we are doing evil. We are filled with evil. And a drop a Christ’s dead bones are right here with us and it is not strong enough to make us do good. Christ in us is not strong enough to make us do good. Why? Because he is broken up, chopped up, and dissolved. And the Lord Jesus Christ is coming and has already started to put Him back together again. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. But Jesus did it. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

Now listen to that. The king’s horses could not do it, and the king’s men could not do it. Who were the horses?

            [INAUDIBLE]

Yeah. The soul man could not do it. Man could not do it; neither could his horse, but Christ did it. Christ did it. Christ is a mind. He is not a soul, and He is not a body. He is a mind, and He did it. He put Humpty Dumpty back together again. He did it in one man, and He is going to do it in the rest of us.

Because in case you do not know it, we are all falling apart. We are all broken down. It may be obvious in some people’s lives, and it may not look obvious in other people’s lives. But, brethren, when they close that coffin over you and nail it shut, it is obvious to me that you are all broken down.

I tell you the truth. We got a whole world and a church full of Pharisees. Man, this truth has to get out. You are not doing good if you are dying. You just look good, and besides your whitewash is dead man’s bones.

Well, I guess I did not do an Alternate Translation on this one either. All of the evil men who are laboring on the earth are experiencing the same fallen condition. And the hearts of the Sons of men -- that is all of us -- is filled with the evil carnal mind and the dead bones of Christ while they live this existence. And after they live this existence, they go to the dead. Something is wrong here; I lost something on my notes. They go to the dead.

That Hebrew word is tra- -- is the Hebrew word sheol. No, I am sorry; it is not. It is not. I lost some of my notes here. I am sorry; it is not sheol. They go to the dead. It means they cease to exist. That is what that Hebrew word is if you look it up. They cease to exist. It is a Hebrew word that means dead, dead, dead, nailed in the grave. I thought you went to heaven and got your own personal mansion and Italian food every night. How silly. How silly.

I do not know about you, brethren, but I am very excited looking for the day that the Lord will bring this correction because the Scripture clearly states when your nation is led by women and children, the people suffer. And that is a curse. It was a curse that God pronounced upon Israel: that women and children will be your leaders. And let me remind you: The Lord was not speaking about physical bodies. He was speaking about the mind because no man would believe that lie that your body is dying and you are going to heaven, where the streets are paved with gold, and you are going to have your own mansion and Italian food every night. No mature, spiritual man would believe that.

And the problem that we have today -- and I want to tell you there are mature, unspiritual men in the world that listen to this nonsense and say, that Holy Ghost stuff is not for me. These people are nuts. Is that not true? That is what they say. These people are crazy.

So what have we got? Just in case anyone is misunderstanding me, I am not knocking anybody, but I am telling you the truth. We have a church world -- a Christian church -- whose visible leaders are women and children, and they are preaching the fantasy and the fables of childhood. And that means that the church of the living God has not yet come out from under the curse that was pronounced upon Israel by God. It was pronounced upon natural Israel. The Spirit was removed from them. It was pronounced upon the whole world because the whole world is under condemnation. And the church of the living God has to rise up out from under these curses and ascend into Christ. And we have a leadership that is female and childish that is preaching that all these curses have already been broken, and it is not true.

Now the true leadership exists in the church just as David existed when Saul was in power. Saul was the king. He was the king over all of Israel, and he had all the power, and he had all the money, and he had all the soldiers. David was a criminal. He lived out in the hills. The men that followed him were all criminals. They were nomads. They did not have any regular houses, any stable houses to live in.

But David was the true king of Israel. God had had Samuel appoint him so. You cannot tell who was king by looking with your natural eyes. David was king of Israel, and Saul was on the throne.

When Naaman heard that there could be healing for him in Israel, he came. He was a Syrian commander. He came, and he went to the king of Israel. The visible authority, the king of Israel, threw him out and said, what do you want? God to strike me dead? You are coming to me for a healing? Naaman could not understand that the prophet of God, through whom the power of God flowed, was a small man, not visible, living in a house somewhere that there is no way you could get to him without instruction.

And the same thing exists today. The true leaders of Israel are as David were. They are outcasts. The people that follow them are outcasts. They are not recognized by the church; nor are they recognized by the world.

But I declare to you that in due season, as happened to David will happen to the true anointed in the church. God will bring down the visible signs of the church that is not mature, and He will exalt -- not the men, but He will exalt Himself through the chosen vessels. Why? So that Israel should be saved.

Brethren, you cannot live when your leaders are men -- women and children. You cannot live when your leaders are women and children. And you cannot live on this baby doctrine that is being preached because there is death in it.

But there is nothing anybody could do. We are all waiting on God’s timing. He must take the authority away from these men because the bulk of the people out there are just not strong enough to resist the political strength of an established church and come and follow a few people preaching a word that most of the world would not accept. Most people are not strong enough to do it.

So the Lord must take them down from their authority. He is going to do it with kindness. Many of them are faithful servants of God doing the best that they could do, but in the exact time that God is ready to go forth, they are either going to have to move into this -- into spiritual manhood or give up their office. Why? Because the plan and purposes of God must go forward. Not because any man is great, and another man is not great, but because God has determined to deliver this entire creation out from hell through the resurrection of the dead. And His plan must go forward, and everyone that is hindering this plan at the exact proper moment will be set aside. And you are manifesting over that one, you better ask the Lord to help you because it is the truth.

So verse 3 says, “The hearts of men are filled with the carnal mind, and they are filled with the dead bones of Christ for the whole time that they live this existence. And after that they die.” Nothing in here about an afterlife at all. An afterlife came out of -- this concept of afterlife came out of pagan religion. The pagan religions teach an afterlife: the pagan religions that existed before Christianity. The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife. That is why they built the pyramids. And they buried with their dead kings food and ser- -- living servants, suffocated to death, because they were locked in the pyramids to serve their kings in the afterlife. It is pagan.

Verse 4, “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Lions in the Scripture typify spiritual power. You have to look for a modifying word. Jesus is described as a lion, and Satan is also described as a lion, so you have to find out which lion we are talking about or which lion the Scripture is talking about.

And what this verse is saying is that everything that is going to happen, brethren, is going to happen in the flesh. Everything that God is doing, He is doing in the human beings that exist on the earth. He says as long as you are in this existence, you have reason to hope for th- -- for what? What is the hope? What is the hope? Somebody?

            [?Christ in you?].

Christ in you: the hope of glory. So long as this human race continues to exist, there is hope. “For a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Does anybody here not know that the Lord describes the living soul as a dog? If you read -- I think it is in Peter, it talks about dogs. Dogs are fallen -- fallen men are described as dogs.

So what is he saying? A living dog -- this creation, in the existence that it has ha- -- that it has, has more hope than a dead lion. This is why the Lord has not let us be wiped out completely. Because if we were wiped out completely, we would be a dead lion. The creation was formed at the beginning of time, and it was given spiritual authority. That made us a lion according to this parable, but the lion died.

And the Lord had two choices: either to wipe us out completely or let us have an existence in this fallen condition. And the Lord made a judgment that there was hope for the living -- more hope for the living dog than for the dead lion. And the Lord has let us have this existence as a living dog until what? We are trapped out here until what? What are we waiting for that is going to raise us from the dead?

            [INAUDIBLE]

No, what is going to raise us from the dead? The judgment, the judgment. And they were reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment, which will raise them from the dead.

Brethren, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. The judgment of God will raise you from the dead. It is the word of God. It is never pleasant, but it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which is Christ.

Verse 5, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” Hmm, this is interfering with this doctrine that I hear teaching. For the living of this existence know that they shall die, but the dead do not know anything. How could you eat in a mansion and eat Italian food if you do not know anything?

“Neither have they any more a reward” -- I am just going to comment briefly on this word reward. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is getting a reward. We are His reward. The living soul is the reward of Christ. You see, the spiritual Christ wants to join with the living soul. That is the whole purpose of this creation. The Father wants to be seen. Christ is a spirit; Christ is a mind, which is spirit. He wants to join with the living soul.

I lost my place. So this concept of a reward, of Jesus getting His reward, is us. We are His reward. And those of us who overcome are also getting a reward. What is the reward of those of us who overcome? If Jesus is getting us as a reward, what are we getting if we overcome? We are getting Christ, amen. He is our reward, and we are His reward.

So this Scripture says in verse 5, the dead do not know anything -- “neither have they any more a reward” -- they do not have the mind of Christ -- “for the memory of them is forgotten.” And I am not going to go into this whole big thing right now, but we do have other messages where we talk about memory. When God remembers you, you exist. When God forgets you, you cease to exist.

And I am going to suggest to you that this phrase is that there is no memory of them means that they are wiped out. The personality is not resurrected, brethren. It is just a lie. It is just not true, and it is not scriptural to say that the re- -- that the personality is resurrected. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing” -- they have no consciousness -- “neither have they any more” -- now let me go back on that. “The dead know not any thing.” Who is the dead? Who was it who died?

            Christ.

Christ. For “the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward.” That means your human spirit has no consciousness, and it has no more reward, no more soul and body. Because “the memory of them is forgotten.” Should I say that again? Is everybody OK?

When this existence comes to an end and your body dissolves, your human spirit goes back into Christ with no memory, with no knowledge that -- of what we gained in this lifetime. There is no memory of them. The personality is not resurrected.

Verse 6, “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Now we spoke about the love and the hatred above. That is the beloved woman, and the enem- -- the hatred is the enemies of God. And in this verse, we are being told that both the beloved -- those who do good to their fellow man -- and those who are the enemies of God, who do evil to their fellow man -- they both have envy, and now they are both perished. Both have sin. Both have sin.

You may be doing justice to your fellow man, treating him fair in business. But I want to tell you, brethren, that envy is wicked, and it is widespread. And if you want to go on to full stature, I highly exhort you and encourage you to pray to the Lord for the ability to discern it in your own mind so that you can kill it. It is there. I do not care how holy you think you are, envy is in your heart. At every time you perceive it, the Lord requires you to kill it, to wound it, to crush it.

We are still in verse 6. “And also their love” -- the ones that treat their fellow man good -- “and their hatred” -- the ones who do not -- “and their envy, is now perished.” The Hebrew word translated perished is Strong’s number 6, and it means to destroy. It also means to -- excuse me -- to disperse.

And I want to suggest to you that mean -- to you that that means that at the death of this body, the spiritual life that was in the person is dispersed. What does that mean? Broken down, separated, dissolved. The physical body goes back to the natural dust. The soul goes back to the lump of clay, and the spirit goes back to Christ. The personality is dispersed, and it will never rise again.

“Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” Oh, my goodness. I thought they had a mansion in heaven. This must be really something wrong with this translation. “Neither have they any more a portion” -- now that word portion is referring to land. We know that land is very important under the old covenant -- that God gave each tribe it- -- a portion of land. And the land that the spiritual man has is his what? Does anybody remember?

            [INAUDIBLE]

His soul, his soul. The spiritual man inher- -- gets an inheritance, a piece of land to live in, which is his soul. Neither have they any more a soul forever in anything that is done under the sun.

So that soul that existed, whether they did good to their fellow man or whether they did not do good to their fellow man -- that soul that had envy is now broken down and dispersed, and it will never have anymore a portion for the any -- for the life of the ages in anything that is done on the earth.

Well, now, we have a bit of a problem here, do we not? I thought they were having concerts and preaching and teaching in heaven, sending evangelists into this realm to teach us. You see, there is some truth to that. The world sees them as aliens. They are coming in with their spaceships. They are going to teach us all kinds of things. Watch out, brethren. Do you hear this?

Verse 7, “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.” God is pleased with you. God is pleased with you. He knows you cannot do any better than you are doing, so be happy, eat, drink. God is accepting you the way you are because He knows that you cannot be anything else.

And let me just put a little aside in here for all of you people training to be Sons of God. When the Lord sends you to minister to somebody that needs help, I encourage you to ask the Lord to help you to just accept them for what they are. You cannot expect to change them. You just take -- well, eventually God will change them. But at the moment, you cannot expect to change them. You have to love them as they are. You have to love them with their problems. You have to love them if they are spiritual lepers. You have to love them.

And in each encounter with them, if they do something or if they say something wrong, you do not let them mistreat you, but you deal with each encounter as it comes hopefully in love. You stop them from mistreating you, but the fact that they have mistreated you because they are in ignorance does not make them evil people. They are just people that have trouble, and you are sent to help them. So I encourage you to ask the Lord to help you to love people as they are but not to receive their ungodly attitudes towards you. And bring a correction that will impart life to them.

Verse 8, “Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.” The phrase, let thy garments be white, is speaking about your soul. Let your soul be righteous.

Now let me remind you that this was written under the old covenant. This is the same idea as God saying that Job was perfect. He was perfect under the law. So the Lord is saying to the -- to Israel, to natural Israel: Let your soul be perfect under the law. Let your garments be white.

But we know that under the new covenant, we are not -- we are still under the law until our soul is actually purged of sin and literally made white. You see, if you think that your soul is cleansed because you are living this Christian life, however you are living it, you have put yourself under the old covenant. Because the new covenant -- I am under the new covenant, and I know that my soul is not white. My garment is not white. And I hope for the day that I receive a white garment because I am -- believe in God to purge me completely of every last sin.

But if I believe that I am completely without sin -- and some Christians do believe that. They believe that they cannot sin because they are under the blood -- then what do you have to hope for other than to die and go to heaven, which is not going to happen, so when you die, you are finished. So if you believe that, if you believe that you are righteous now because of the condition of your mind, you are under the old covenant, and you need to know that. When the new covenant has been fulfilled in you, you will not die. You will have been so purged from sin, your garments will be so completely white that you will not die.

“And let your head lack no ointment.” That is talking about the anointing of Christ. Let your Chri- -- let your head never be without Christ. Let your mind be Christ, and let your soul be purified. That is what it is saying.

Verse 9, “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of your vanity.” God calls this existence vanity. This existence is vanity. It is empty. It is nothing. It is a shadow that is here today and gone tomorrow. I tell you the truth.

I had a woman say to me once -- a minister. She was all upset with what I am preaching. What about all the things we have done for Christ? Well, brethren, this existence is vanity. Of course only what you do for Christ will continue. What the -- what she was saying to me was, how could I say that the personality would not be resurrected when the person did all these things for Christ? Well, brethren, what I do for you in Christ is building Christ in you. [?Has?] nothing to do with me. Has nothing to do with my personality. Christ is being built, and these personalities will continue to fall away as used up garments until that day in which Christ appears in full statue. And the personalities that exist on the earth in that day will become permanent. I cannot go into the whole teaching now. We have many messages on it.

So “live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of your vanity” -- that is this existence -- “which he hath given thee under the sun” -- or on the earth -- “all the days of this vain lifetime.” You know what vain means? It means worthless. This lifetime is worthless.

The only thing that counts is what you do for Christ. The only thing that counts is the maturity that Christ experiences in this lifetime so that He can go on to the next stage until eventually He stands up in full stature. You have a purpose while He is maturing in you. And once these personalities pass away, you are just down in the draft. Christ is the only reality, and He is the only thing that matters.

“For that is thy” -- so what is the Lord saying? He is saying enjoy your life. He is saying you are here for a reason. You are here so that Christ can have a form through which to mature. He is maturing. He is having many experiences in us and maturing. But God knows that even though we are a soul realm, which is greatly inferior to the spiritual Christ, He is saying, I know you have feelings. I know you are not just a piece of wood, so enjoy your life. Enjoy it while you have it. That is what He is saying. The only purpose for your being here is that Christ can have experiences in you, which will lead to His mature, full birth in the earth. But I put you here, so enjoy. Does anyone not know what I am talking about? That is what He is saying.

“Live joyfully with the human wife that I give you all the days of this vain life. For it is thy portion in this vain life and in thy labor which -- and it is part of the labor which you take under the sun.” It is part of the world that labors, and that includes childbirth in this world. It is part of the world that labors. It is not a part of the spiritual world.

Verse 10, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, where you go.” And that is whether you do good to your fellow man or you do evil to your fellow man. You are all going to the grave.

The Hebrew word translated work, in verse 10, is Strong’s 4639, and it means deed or action: that which is produced by labor. We are talking about activity. There is no activity in the grave. Nor is there any device, Strong’s 2808, which means reason or the understanding of man. There is no mental faculty in the grave. Neither is there knowledge, Strong’s 1847, referring to the wisdom, intelligence and understanding of God. I suggest to you that is the imputed anointing. Neither is there any wisdom, Strong’s 2451, referring to the wisdom which is ascribed to [?Saya?].

I do not know. I thought there were devils pinching you with pitchforks and ovens. We had to stoke the coals and put the -- there is no activity. There is no rational thought. Whatsoever your hand is able to do, do it with all your might because this world is all there is. And after it is over, there is no activity and no mental faculty.

Verse 11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift” -- that means the race is not necessarily going to be won -- run by -- won by those who are fastest -- “nor the battle to the strong” -- this is in Christ now. This is in Christ now. To get out of this world, which is vain -- to get out of a condition whereby there is no resurrection of the personality, you do not have to be the fastest one. Neither do you have to be the strongest one to win the battle. Nor is it bread to the wise -- in other words getting there is not bread -- meaning Christ -- to the wise. Nor riches to the men of under- -- that bread, it means -- I am sorry. It means spiritual food. I am -- I do not know that it means Christ. It means spiritual food to the wise. Nor is it getting rich for men of understanding. Nor is it getting favor or getting opportunities for the men of skill. “But time and chance happeneth to all of them.”

This race -- I think I said the race into Christ. I am sorry; that was not correct if I said that. This race, this world, this vain existence -- there is nothing that you can do to get yourself out of it. You can be good to your fellow man, or you could be evil to your fellow man, and you are all going to wind up in the same place. Time and chance happeneth to everybody: to the one that are physi- -- ones that are physically strong, the ones that are emotionally strong, the ones that are spiritually strong, the ones that have wisdom, even the ones that know this doctrine, bread to the wise, even the ones that understand this doctrine. You are still going the same way as everybody else.

And where you are going is to the grave unless Christ is fully born in you. Yes, you have to be born again, but what is born again? And what is being preached is the born-again experience. It is not the born-again experience. It is the spiritual experience known as reconciliation: what the church world calls born again. It is reconciliation unto God. It is the receiving of Him back into relationship with Him. If you are fully born again, you would not die.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth was fully born again. Christ was fully born in Him, and it gave life to His soul. The full birth of the mature Christ in a man’s mind gives life to their soul. And you do not die, and it preserves your body. If you die, you were not born again. Do not tell me you are going to heaven. If your loved one died, he was not born again. He may have been reconciled to God, but he was not born again.

Verse 12, “For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”

This Scripture is saying that man does not recognize what kind of an age he is in. Man does not recognize the -- what kind of an age he is in. Even heathens think -- well, some people think it is all over after this world, but there is all kinds of religions out there. Man does not comprehend that he is in a temporary age. Even the human beings that believe there is nothing after death, they do not recognize that this is a time period that is temporary. It is a part of Christ’s immaturity. It is a forum for Christ to have experiences: to overcome, to mature and to grow up. He is saying man does not understand who or what we are. Even the church does not understand it.

And He says, “as the fishes are taken in an evil net.” What that means is that the fishes, they are just swimming along, happily doing their thing. And one day they find themself in a net, and they are raised up out of the water. And they die, and they are food for somebody. Suddenly evil comes upon the fish community -- suddenly with no warning. “And as the birds that are caught in a snare” -- suddenly with no more warning, the Lord says, “so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” And what is the evil age unto the Sons of men? The evil time?

It is the age of Christ invading this life of th- -- this existence of vanity. Every man, when his time comes, will be caught in the evil net of the Lord. Now God does evil, brethren. God does evil. He does evil to evil. He -- the evil of God attacks the evil of man, and what is the result? What is the result of God doing evil to you?

            [INAUDIBLE]

Yes, you become righteous. You had that dream this morning. Someone hurt you, and you were raised up. When God does evil to you, it will raise you up out of this age.

Verse 12 is saying that there is an evil time that is about to fall suddenly upon men. In another place it is called Jacob’s trouble. Jesus called it the tribulation. He said, never before has man ever experienced such a tribulation; nor will he ever again. Now that does not mean that it is so terrible that it is worse than anything that ever happened before. It means it is a different kind of tribulation. It is not a tribulation to your body, but it is a tribulation to your mind and to your soul and possibly your body also. It is a tribulation that is crushing your carnal mind and producing Christ. It is a different kind of tribulation, not a worse tribulation.

Verse 13 -- OK, now starting with verse 13, we have a little parable here. Actually we have just finished the message of Ecclesiastes 9. I would think this should really be another chapter, starting with verse 13, but the King James translators did not do that. Oh, my. I rebuke you.

So we have finished Ecclesiastes 9, and what the preacher is saying, the overriding message, is that no matter how good you are, no matter how good you look, no matter how good your works, no matter how wonderful your life, no matter what you do, you are no better -- you a- -- as far as eternal life is concerned, you are no better than the worst lowlife that exists or has ever existed on the face of the earth. You all eventually die.

So what is the message? Have mercy on the poor and the afflicted. And even harder to do, have mercy on the wicked. Have mercy on the wicked. Now that does not mean that you let people do wickedness to you, and you stand there, and you take it. That does not mean that. You stand for righteousness. You block them. You stop them. You do not let them do wickedness to you.

But as soon as the confrontation is over, see if you cannot help them. See if you cannot say one word that is going to set them on another path. See if you cannot give them one drop of information that could change their whole life.

Brethren, if every person qualified to do that -- and you need a measure of maturity to do it. And there are people outside of Christ that have that kind of maturity. But if everybody that was able to help someone whose life was all messed up would take on one person, you know, this whole world would straighten out.

And I want to tell you: Money cannot do it. There is a lot of people out there willing to give -- well, there is a place for that too. Do not misunderstand me; there is a place for that too. Everyone doing good works needs money to function on, but there is a lot of people willing to write checks at the end of the year, a lot of people. But there are not many people willing to take on another human being and share with them all of their wisdom, their maturity, their ability to cope with life and everything that a human need- -- a human beings needs to be up in this world and not down. Not many people willing to do it.

So I am going to take a few minutes to go over this parable for you, which runs from verse 13 of Ecclesiastes 9 through verse 18. And I -- it really blessed me what I found out here.

Verse 13, “This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:

“There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:”

Well, let us find out who this king was. There was -- well, first of all, there was a little city. This Hebrew word translated little, it means besieged. There was a besieged city. Now, brethren, everyone that is not making it in this world is besieged. Actually we are all besieged. Some are more besieged than others. Some have bodies that are falling apart. Some have souls that are falling apart. Some have minds that are falling apart. All you have to do is go sit in the hospital clinics, and all you have to do is go sit in the criminal courts. And you see all the people that are besieged. Now we have a category of people who are making it in this vain existence. And they look good, and they feel good, but they too are besieged. Why? How do I know that? Because they die.

So there was a city that was besieged. And we could take this parable as the whole of the human race, but I am going to take it as an individual right now. We are individual cities. Did Jesus not say that? That each of us is a city. Jesus said that. And there were few men within this city. The Hebrew word translated few, it can also be translated very small -- not a small amount of men but small men, men lacking spiritual power, men lacking spiritual power. There was a besieged city, and the men in it were lacking spiritual power. Now, remember, the real you is spirit, so if you are in this city, if you are in this fallen body [AUDIO CUTS OUT] -- spiritual power. Who is besieging you? If you are a spiritual man, who is besieging you? What is wrapped around you? Your carnal mind is wrapped around you. Remember the three stages of the resurrection: Christ starts from underneath, and He has to cut His way through. He has to pierce through that carnal mind. Christ is besieged wherever He begins to appear. In whatever measure He is appearing, He is always at the most innermost part, and He is surrounded by the carnal mind.

So there was a besieged city, and there was a spiritually weak man within it, and there came a great king against it. The Hebrew word translated “great” means “elder,” and it is referring to the -- those who are spiritually powerful in God.

So there was a besieged city with a spiritually weak man, and there came a great king against it. There became a spiritually powerful elder king. Sounds to me like older brother. Jesus Christ came against it and besieged it. The Hebrew word translated “besieged” means “to change.” He changed it. It was evil, and He made it good.

And He built great bulwarks against it. The Hebrew word translated “bulwarks” is the same Hebrew word translated net a couple of verses back where the fish got caught in the net and the -- where the fish got caught in the net, this is the same word. Jesus Christ came to this city where the man was spiritually weak. He besieged it, and He built a net around it. Did you ever feel like you were caught in a net? The Lord has a net. He will catch you in it like you are a fish, and there is no place to run, and when He does that, the result is that He is going to change you.

Verse 15, "Now there was found in it a poor wise man." Well, I guess the city is the whole living soul, and each of us is a city within a city. Now in the city, there was found in it a poor, wise man. The word “poor” refers to his humble spirit, and the word “wise” is referring to the fact that he had Christ in him because wisdom is only in Christ.

And it was found in this besieged city a humble man who had Christ, "And He by his wisdom delivered the city." Brethren, when the Lord Jesus besieges you, when judgment falls on you suddenly, there is only one way you are going to get out of it, and that is by turning to Christ. That judgment can take many forms. If it is physical illness, there is no doctor in the universe that can heal you when you are sick because the Lord Jesus Christ has caught you in His net. The only way you are going to live is by confessing your sins and repenting and changing. Whatever the crisis is in your life, if it is an emotional crisis, if it is a spiritual crisis, whatever it is, if it is a judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is only one way out: turning to Him.

Now there is a god of this world. There is a god of Hell; his name is Satan. If the Lord has not caught you in his net, if you are one of the fishes in the sea of this world and you are not caught in the net of the Lord, it is possible to get sick and to go to a doctor and be healed. But when the Lord catches you in His net, He will bring you to the end of yourself. He will make you powerless. He will show you your powerlessness, and in some cases will bring you to the point of death if necessary to force you to turn to Him.

Other Christians in the church who are not caught in the Lord’s net -- now be careful who you compare yourself to. If you have a trial that you have not been able to pray yourself out of, if you have confessed your sins, if you have repented, if you have submitted for deliverance, if you have s- [AUDIO CUTS OUT] -- out of this problem, you just may be caught in the Lord’s net, and you better ask Him what He is trying to accomplish in you so that you could work with Him and not get out of the trial but go through the trial and be an overcomer.

Now, there was found in this city a humble man who had the wisdom of Christ, and he by that wisdom of Christ -- well, what is that? He confessed his sins and repented and asked God what the Lord required of him. He delivered the city. He saved his life. "Yet no man remembered that same poor man." So what this verse is saying is that the Lord went -- the Lord made war against this wicked city, but there was a man who escaped judgment. It was the judgment of God, and he escaped it through the wisdom of Christ.

And I would like to point out to you that at the very end here, "Yet no man remembered the same poor man," the two English words man are translations of two different Hebrew words. The first Hebrew word, "yet no man," is referring to Adam. Now, remember, Adam is the corporate living soul, yet Adam did not remember that same poor man. And the second word “man” is a translation of a Hebrew word which means “mere mortal man.”

And I want to remind you that the word “remember,” we had it in this message, is used to describe God’s saying, if God remembers you, you exist, and if He forgets you, you do not exist. I want to suggest to you that this phrase is saying, yet Adam did not have the authority to remember that mortal man. Adam did not have the authority to keep that mortal man existing. Adam, the whole living soul did -- this spiritual man did not have the spiritual authority to remember that poor -- that humble mortal man. It was only when he turned to God that his life was saved.

And I have an Alternate Translation on that verse. Eclesiastes 9:15. "Now the man whom the Lord reigned judgment upon was humble and delivered himself from the Lord’s judgments by the wisdom of God, but Adam could not save him."

I want to tell you there is no doctor, there is no scientist, there is nobody. See, AA works for some people. Why does it not work for others? There is no AA; there is no NA; there is nothing that can help you when you have caught in God’s net and you are not doing it His way. No one can save your life, and no one can save your mind. You better do it His way because there is no place to go, and there is no place to run. You have come to the end of yourself.

Amplified translation, "When the Lord reigned judgment upon that man, Adam could not save him, but he was delivered when he humbled himself before the Lord and repented."

Let me tell you, when you God catches you in his net, He is not fooling. Either you are coming His way, or you will die.

Verse 16, "Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength." The wisdom of God is better than physical strength or the emotional strength of the natural man. [?I just heard?] [?Freddy Price?] preaching that this morning. He said he would rather be wise than strong because when you have either physical or emotional strength, you are limited, you are limited by the measure of strength that you have. But the wisdom of God is not limited. It is unlimited. So if you have an opportunity to ask the Lord to heal your -- to heal your problems, to try to do it in your own strength, makes you a foolish son.

I am not insulting you. You are either foolish, or you are wise. If you try to do it in your own strength, it makes you foolish. Why? Because you are limited, and maybe you do not have enough strength to take care of that problem. So the wise son represses his own mind and his own reasoning and his own solutions to the problems and gives it to the wisdom of God, and that makes you a wise son, and if you cannot do it, ask God to help you. Tell Him you want to be a wise son.

"Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless, the poor man’s wisdom is despised." The humble man’s wisdom is despised. That is the wisdom of Christ, and His words are not heard. I can personally attest to that, how a large majority of people do not want to hear the wisdom of God. They prefer the wisdom of man, and I am talking about people in the church. We even have a message on it.

We watched it on TV, where there was a TV program that I enjoy watching, that had two -- that had a prophet on it and a teacher from a bible college. The prophet was filled with the anointing of God, and the teacher was filled wit the anointing of men, and it was the words of the man teacher, of the human teacher, that was lifted up on that program. Men, natural men, despise the teaching of God. That is just the way it is. It is just the way it is. If you have been around for any length of time, you know that.

Verse 17, “The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth amongst fools.” The one that rules amongst fools has a big mouth, and he runs it a lot. The person who is speaking by the anointing of Christ most often is very quiet and will back off if your foolish mouth tries to take the lead of the conversation. Most of the time the wisdom of Christ will back off unless God tells you in a certain instance to override.

But love does not strive, you see. The spirit of God does not strive with the big mouth of a foolish man. So if you want to hear the wisdom of God, you need to be listening to it in everything that everybody says to you. I listen for God’s voice in every word that comes to my ears. I listen for the word of the Lord from my -- the Lord has spoken to me through my father several times, not with regard to spiritual matters but with regard to aspects of my natural life. The Lord -- a couple of times the Lord spoke to me, and I did not want to do it, so he told me through my father. I said, oh, Lord, You have to tell me through my father. OK, I will do it.

He has spoken to me through strangers. I want to tell you, I went out for a bagel one day a couple years ago, and I met a woman in the bagel store. It had to be a long time ago because I knew this woman from the commuter bus when I had a secular job, and the woman really was not in her right mind. She -- anyone in the world with any- -- that knows anything about people would have looked at her and said this woman is off. And I sat there, and I had a bagel and a cup of coffee with her, and I listened to her, and I listened to her, and she talked through the whole conversation, and she left.

And I said, Lord, now, what was that about? I just assumed I had some ministry for this woman whose mind is not right, and the Lord said to me, did you hear what she said to you? I said yes. He said that was My message to you. And she was talking about how she was dealing with an elderly parent, and the Lord had corrected me with regard to the way I was dealing with my elderly parents from this woman whose mind was not right but who apparently had some wisdom about how you deal with elderly people. I did not know. He got the information to me, and I thank God that He has enabled me to be able to hear His voice wherever he speaks. I am always listening for His voice.

Verse 18: “Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.” And what is the spiritual weapon of war, anybody?

            [INAUDIBLE]

The mi- -- no. Well, wisdom is better than weapons of war, so that means wisdom is Christ. So what is the weapon of war? Who is the warmonger? The carnal mind. Christ is better than the carnal mind, but one sinner destroyeth much good. There is much -- there is life; there is wisdom; there is health; there is glory in the mind of Christ, but one sinner whose carnal mind is racing and whose mouth is yackety, yackety, yacketa will break the bones of Christ.

Christ is gentle. He does not strive. He will not insist that He is right and get into an argument with you. So if you are not listening carefully, all you will hear is the yackety, yackety, yacketa of the foolish man. And what makes you a foolish man? What makes you a foolish man is that you are talking by your carnal mind and that you are so caught up in what you are saying that you do not even have time to listen to the mind of Christ coming out of the person that is speaking very quietly and very gently. Hallelujah.

Any questions or any comments?

            Celie [SP], [INAUDIBLE]

            I have a question for you.

Yes, [?ma'am?]?

You said that the Christ in the person when they pass from -- when the human spirit passes from the body has no memory. Is that what you said?

I -- if I said it that way, let me make it clearer. I think I did say it that way. Let me make it clearer. There is no memory of this existence. What is retained is the spiritual development that occurs to the human spirit, but there is no memory of who you were in this lifetime or who your husband was.

            Right, right.

Or anything like that.

            But that is the personality; is it not?

There is no memory of the personality. There is no --

            The personality dissolves. There is no -- the personality does not remember anything.

Correct.

            But the human spirit does remember; does it not?

I do not believe -- and this is one of these areas where -- well, you are always free to disagree with me, but sometimes, I may -- I might tell you that if you insist on disagreeing with me, you are foolish.

Just for an example, someone was giving me an argument a couple years ago about how astrology was OK, and, well, it was my daughter, to tell you the truth. It depends on who you are talking to you, but I did rise up and tell her. I said, now, listen, Maria, you are being foolish. Do not argue with me about whether astrology is good or not. Whether or not you do it, you are an adult woman, and whether or not you do it is up to you, but I am not going to sit here and let you tell me that it is a good thing.

That is the kind of thing where I will tell you -- sometimes I will tell you -- I will come against your own opinion, but this is an area where, you know, you are just free to believe whatever you want because I do not have any proof. But it is my opinion that the human spirit does not take a memory of this lifetime with it. It only takes a memory of what was learned in Christ. Spiritual development is the only thing that passes on, and that is my opinion. You are more than free to disagree.

            Well, the reason I ask is because Chri- -- the human spirit is the dead Christ until Christ in that person is raised from the dead.

Yes, yes.

            So if Christ cannot remember when He passed from this body and went into another one, then what is the purpose of Him experiencing the experience in this body --

Spiritual development. He takes with him his spiritual development.

            So if He takes his spiritual development, then He s- -- He remembers.

Spiritual development, not who his wife or his daughter or anything of the soulish realm.

            No, I did not mean of the soul, but the spirit, right?

He takes with Him spiritual development and spiritual -- not even spiritual knowledge, but his overcoming experiences that are maturing Him. I do not believe that there is any memory of the personality realm of this world. D- -- do you at least understand what I am saying?

            Yeah, I understand what you are saying.

OK. OK.

            But when you said that the human spirit has no remembrance at all, I was taking it that you meant Christ.

No, He has -- He has memory of spiritual development.

            Right.

He has growth that stays with Him. If I did say it that way, then I am glad that you asked the question so we could clarify.

            That [CROSSTALK] --

-- clarify it.

 Well, I am not sure if you said it that way, --

Yeah.

            -- but that is how I took it.

OK.

            -- but through the experience in the lifetime, He obtained some spiritual [CROSSTALK]

Spiritual overcoming, that increases him, that makes him stronger.

            And it was a knowledge?

And it is a knowledge. Just think of your natural example. If you had -- whatever happened to you in your 14^th year, whatever experiences you had, --

            Right.

-- with dating or being in school, it has made you. It has contributed to what you are today.

            Yeah.

Maybe the relationship you had is no longer a part of your life, but that which you learned and that relationship is a part of your life. That is your natural example.

            OK.

OK?

            And I have one more question that -- can I ask a question that does not really have anything to do with the message?

Well, could you just give everyone else an opportunity first and then come back with that one?

            OK.

If there are any other questions on this message, any other questions on this message. OK, I would just like to make one more comment with regard to your last question. I know we have talked about it a couple of times, but let me put it on this message, that Satan does have a remembrance of the soulish lifetime, and when you find psychiatrists or hypnotists hypnotising people and regressing them, and these people have memories of past lifetimes, what you are dealing with is a fallen spirit, whose name is Satan, who has been present through all generations of this living soul.

So when you hypnotize somebody and regress them, you are contacting Satan which is the unconscious mind of man, who has been here from the beginning, and he does in fact have all of these memories and all of these details of the soulish life because Satan is the god of the soul realm, but in Christ, these soulish memories are dissolved. OK? Any questions or comments on anything tonight, including what I just said?

            You spoke about, do not mix the seed. I know you are speaking about the seed of Christ and the seed of the carnal mind, but I was just thinking about the donkey, and I think [UNINTELLIGIBLE] [?comes out of it?]. Is that wrong?

Well, I would say that it is wrong for the simple reason that the product is sterile. See, what -- when we find sterility or barrenness. When we find an inability to reproduce either in an animal or in human beings, this is a sign that God is telling us, you have done something wrong over here. You have done something wrong. You cannot produce further. It is the end. When we find families, where there is -- there are large measures of barrenness, that was a -- that is a sign that there is [sic] heavy curses on their family, that God is not continuing that family line; He is not blessing it.

            Along that same line, I just wanted to ask about vegetables and things like that, that they mix, and fruit, is that --

Well, I believe when that command was given in the Scripture, it was about fruits and vegetables. I do not have any problem with a hybrid vegetable today. You have to remember that everything under the Old Testament was a type of spiritual things, and the spiritual message of do not mix your seed is that you are not supposed to be committing adultery with the carnal mind. Your seed is the human spirit. Your seed is Christ, and you are not supposed to be committing adultery with Satan or the carnal mind. OK? But I have no problem eating hybrid vegetables. That is part of the law that was dissolved.

            How long [INAUDIBLE]

I have no problem eating hybrid vegetables. Those are vegetables which are developed by the mixing of seeds.

            Opening up a whole ’nother thing here. I thought that -- Joseph, go sleep in the other room.

No, no, Joseph, sleep there; stay here. It is getting on you anyway.

            I thought that we were not supposed to eat, like, those oranges that are -- like, what do they call them? It is a mixture of a tangerine and an orange.

Tangelos.

            Tangelos, I thought that they were bad for you, and they taste funny though too. They taste funny.

Why did you think they were bad for you?

            Because it is a cross seed.

Oh, almost everything in the marketplace is a cross seed today. Everything -- if -- everything is hybrid today.

            It is not funny, really.

Everything is hybrid today.

            Oh, really?

Yeah, almost everything is hybrid.

            No, but somebody told me not to eat the tangelo.

Well, some -- you know, some people get all caught up in the law, you know?

            [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

And if you are under the --

            What else is mixed?

Everything is mixed today.

            Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Almost -- there is almost no pure line anymore because they are breeding them for endurance because they ship them, even the cattle. The meat that you eat is all hybrid.

            It is mixed?

The beef is hybrid. Yeah, everything is hybrid today.

            What is it mixed with?

Different strains of cattle. And what they do is they mix them so that they get the most durable product, the cow that is going to produce the most meat that is going to live longest, and they do the same thing with the vegetables.

            But it is still -- i- -- cattle -- it is still cattle though?

It is still cattle but different strains of cattle, different families of cattle.

            That really should not be mixed?

If you are under the Levitical law, I guess you should not mix [?it?]. I --

            It is supposed to --

I am no expert on the Levitical law, but I do not have any problem with it. I eat all that stuff. OK --

            What else is in vegetables?

Pardon me?

            What else in vegetables is mixed?

Well, it is my understanding that almost all the vegetables today are hybrid, yeah.

            Oh.

So you had another question?

            Yeah. The -- I just wondered if some people are called before they were ever born. Like, is that the same as before the foundations of the earth?

Well, I am not prepared to comment on that Scripture tonight, but I do believe that some people are called before they are born. I believe that -- we have a message on this. It is one of the very beginning -- one of the very earliest messages, that there are at least three reasons why human beings appear in this earth. Some human beings appear because a man and a woman get together, and the woman gets pregnant, and it is not planned, just because human beings are programmed to reproduce.

Some human beings are here in this world because the unconscious mind of man needs new bodies to live in. This fallen living soul wants people to procreate so that he can have bodies in, a new generation, so it is the will -- it is that will over there. Some babies are born because a man and a woman decide that they want to have a baby, and they do it, and the woman gets pregnant. But some people are here in this world because the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am going to appear in that person, and that woman is going to lie with her husband, and she is going to get pregnant, but it is going to be from Me. And that baby is going to be born, and that person is called from before their birth, and usually these people have very hard lives.

            You know, I was thinking about how some people, the Lord said, was called    before the foundations of the earth, and I was thinking about some people who, like, the Lord said, well, He, like, said, a prophecy, or He said to somebody, I called you 10 years ago or something like that, you know, right.   Like, somebody who was not called from birth, but somebody that the Lord just decided to call 10 years ago and dropped an anointing on them.

You mean you heard that prophecy?

            Well, I am just saying some people say --

Y- --

            I know God called me 12 years ago or something like that.

Oh, well, no, you have to be -- no. The Scripture says that even though someone is a son, that they look just like everybody else in the world. And they are under tutors and governors until Christ starts to move in their life, so to say that God called you 10 years ago -- God did not call you 10 years ago. God called you before the foundation of the earth, but you were lying in an undeveloped state for all those years. The Scripture says I sent my son to Egypt. You were in Egypt, no one could tell that you were a son. No one knew the difference between you and a son of God, and then God called his son out of Egypt. Are you following me?

            Yeah.

OK.

            So does that mean that is called was called before the foundations of the earth?

I do not know. I believe that there are some people -- I believe that there are some people that they see the anointing and they recognize Christ, and they want it, and the Lord receives them, and I will -- again, this is my opinion, I will never fight with anybody over this. I cannot prove it to you. But in my opinion, is anyone that you see moving in a new order anointing of power in this hour was called. The seed of the Lord was planted in them. The whole thing was planned, that at such and such an age and such and such and such a city, that Christ was going to appear in this person. The sons of God that are about to appear in this earth, I expect that every single one of them was planted -- you know, was planted in a human woman, and she brought forth that child.

            OK, that was the question --

Yeah.

            -- that I really had.

Yeah, that is my opinion.

            Is it true that every son was called before the foundations of the earth?

That is my opinion.

            OK.

That is my opinion.

            So then the others that have the imputed anointing or just come into the anointing and is being used by God, which they are called, but they are not necessarily called before the foundations of the earth?

Right. They may be, but they may not be.

            Is that scriptural, that these sons are called before the foundations of the earth?

Well, I cannot think of any Scripture right now, but it is -- as far as I am concerned, there is no question about it. Anyone that is going to be taken a part in this new order of ministry, [?that?] is already existing --

            [CROSSTALK]

-- but is not -- is still pretty invisible, was called from before the foundation of the earth.

            Were they also -- well, the prophets too were called before the foundations; were they not?

Anybody that does a mighty work for Christ -- this is my opinion --

            OK.

Anyone that does a mighty work for Christ, if you wrote a book that is in the Bible, if you had a prophecy that is now in the Bible, God planned your birth. That is my opinion. And there is going to be a lot of people that are going to recognize the anointing and go along for the ride. They are going to be there. They are going to get the miracles. They are going to speak in tongues. They will do the whole thing, but they are just one -- they are just there. Anyone in whom Christ planned for them to be born, He has got a great work for them.

            Does this also mean that these sons were born of the express will of the Father?

Mm-hmm.

            That is the same meaning?

That is the same meaning. And those are the ones who are caught in His net by the way. If the Lord planned your conception and he has it ordained that for 20 or 30 years, no one will know that you are any different than anyone in the world. And at any particular age, He is going to -- getting -- He is getting ready to do anyone through you what He intended to do when He caused your mother to conceive. You are going to be caught in His net, and there is going to be no place for you to run. He is going to put your back up against the wall. He is going to cut off all of your human strength and power and however He does it, usually there is only a few ways that he does it -- either it is through physical illness. It is through some compulsive problem that you cannot take the victory over. Sometimes it is severe financial problems. Sometimes it is severe emotional problems and your relationships with other people. Frequently it is all of them, but He will bring you to the end of yourself until you give it up and let Him do what He wants to do with you. Did I answer your question?

            [INAUDIBLE]

Anybody else have a question?

            How about those of us who are in this ministry yet have never felt the anointing and never felt called? So does that mean that you are just not part of that?

Well, I cannot tell anybody that you are not just part of that because you do not know what God is going to do tomorrow.

            Yeah, but would you not have known the anointing all along?

No.

            Each person that has come into the anointing. They said they always felt it, and they felt they were called.

I did not always feel the anointing.

            No?

I did not always feel the anointing. I did not know I was called until I was 38 years old, and even then I did not know I was called. I was dying. I came to the Lord because I was dying.

            I mean, you found out soon after you were born again. but I am talking about those who are supposedly walking in the Lord for a number of years and have never felt Him.

I do not know what to tell you, except that do not let the number of years that you are walking in the Lord control anything. God can do anything, and there are people that are coming into the vineyard at midnight, so I would not be disc- -- I would not give up, and I would not be discouraged at all. I would not be. And I keep telling you -- I am telling you the same thing that I have been telling you for two years. Sometimes I definitely see a move of the spirit in you, Celie. And of course, you know what happened at Connecticut, you know. It is just that it is not -- maybe it is not as frequent as you would like, and we have had discussions about this, that you have a very strong carnal mind.

            I have been crying out and crying out. I do not know whether it was for me or  not, and especially the last few days. It is just -- was terrible. I would not even know, and I would be breaking out crying, and I have been asking the Lord to show me what it is.

So you are having some very spiritual experiences, but you are not moving as rapidly as some other people, but that does not mean anything. The Scripture clearly says he who was last will be first, and he who is first will be last. I see a big change in you in the two years that you have been here.

            [INAUDIBLE]

Well, you just said it, that you were crying for two days. You never did things like that before.

            And I just thought maybe because I do not really know Him [INAUDIBLE]

No. Well, that is the change right there, that you are having a spiritual experience right there. What you are saying is -- what I hear you saying is it is not happening fast enough for you, and I can appreciate your frustration. But I see growth in you, and I encourage you. I would be very encouraged.

            [?And I see it too?]

            [?I cannot see it?].

            [INAUDIBLE]

            Maybe, but what I am feeling is the pain in the back of my spine, in the bottom part of the spine, in the hips, and walking, sometimes I feel I am not going to walk again, and it is just I am holding onto hope.

Or what does one thing have to do with the other?

            That -- what -- even what you are preaching today, sometimes God allows these things to happen. Asking the Lord, what is my sin? That --

Oh, no.

            [CROSSTALK] that I cannot see it. You understand? I keep thinking, well, they say arthritis has got to do with unforgiveness.

That is all old order, Celie [SP]. I -- look, ladies, you know, I encourage you to let it go. I cannot make you let it go. I have been preaching it here for two years. That is all old order. God is not healing everybody of everything instantly in this hour, but He is using our weaknesses and our infirmities to bring forth a deep deliverance of the personality.

            OK.

OK? So I will just keep telling you till I get it through your head. You have got to get go of that old order. You see, you know what the root of that is? You want an instant healing. That is what the root of it is.

            No.

Listen -- let me finish. You are in pain. I am sorry that you have pain, OK, but the question is, what do you do when you have pain? And if what you are doing is what you are doing, you are not in Christ. Because you are -- what -- I am going to tell you the analysis of it. You are going to -- you are doing anything to get out of this pain. What is my sin? What is my this? What is my that? I want out of this pain now. That is what you are saying.

            [INAUDIBLE] too much of it now because it is two years [INAUDIBLE]

That is what you are saying. You have been saying for two years, I want out of this trial now. And the Lord is saying, what did you say? What did you say? Do you understand what I said to you?

            [INAUDIBLE]

Wait a minute. I asked you a question. Do you understand what I said to you?

            [INAUDIBLE]

OK, just hold it, just hold it, because I do not know that you understood it. Just hold it, just a minute. OK. I do not know. The Lord is just telling me to hold it. I want to say it again.

            [INAUDIBLE]

OK. The root of what you are thinking is that there has got to be some way you can figure to get out of this pain. There has got to be some formula. There has got to be some technique. There has got to be something that I can do to get away from this pain, and the Lord is saying, no, there is nothing you could do. I want you to give up your will, and I will heal you when I am ready to heal you.

            [INAUDIBLE] that is what I wanted [INAUDIBLE]

OK. Well, the first thing you d- -- you need to do is to confess what you are doing is sin, that you are trying to bring to pass this healing by your own strength. You think if you can come up with some formula or some idea or say some chant or something, it is witchcraft, so you need to confess it as sin and repent and ask God to have mercy on you and help you. And I want to tell you something. If what I am telling you is true, there is no -- there is not a chance of a snowball in Hell of you getting healed so long as you are trying to bring it to pass yourself. I will tell you the truth.

            Well, it has gotten to be so bad that I had to rely on doctors for so long.

That is not -- see, Celie [SP], I do not --

            [CROSSTALK]

Either you do not know what I am talking about, or you are ignoring me.

            [INAUDIBLE]

I am not --

            [INAUDIBLE] somehow or some way [?by all the confessions?] all the things I can think of God is not going to let it be until I give up my will.

Right.

            How do I give up my will?

You have to ask Him to take it from you. You have to say, Lord, --

            That is what I have been doing.

OK. I confess this as sin; I repent, and I would -- I am asking You, please, take it from me. And more than that, you cannot -- if you really believe in that in your heart, there is really nothing more that you could -- and resist it. When it comes up in your mind, you have to rebuke it.

Now what makes me think that you are not really doing this is because of what you just sai- -- I mean, I have been telling you this for two years, and what you just said to me was, I am trying to figure out what is in -- so you are still doing it. Do you understand what I am telling you? I am not sure. I do not think I am reaching you.

            Yeah, can I just say what -- what I am [?getting on to?]. What is amazing to me is my cousin who [?moved from New York?] to Colorado to [INAUDIBLE]. He was really in Mexico, came to Colorado because of his wife having arthritis.

Yeah

            [CROSSTALK] so I am saying this is the first sin -- or whatever it is, a sickness. When you move to another state that has warm climate, it can disappear, but as long as you stay out here on the Island, it does not disappear. So I was thinking, well, if -- will you move, or even if you move there -- everybody I know that moved here, it has healed the thing. If God is doing something to me, if I can move there or to right in the middle of [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Africa, wherever the warmth is, God would not let it go if He was having [INAUDIBLE],  right? Is that what you are trying to say?

Well, I do not know. You might get healed of that and get something else. I cannot tell you for sure what God would do, but I want to tell you, Celie [SP] -- you know I love you, Celie [SP]; I love you, Celie [SP] -- I have to honestly tell you, I do not believe that you have given this up. Your mind is going ch-ch-ch -- how can I ch-ch-ch- -- how can I get out of this? Now, you have to be rebuking it because this is all sin, you see, trying to bring it to pass yourself. So you ca- -- if you say the word, I repent, it does not mean a thing. You have to show God --

            [INAUDIBLE] show me what it is. I said show me. I would cry out to Him [INAUDIBLE]

Show you what?

            What is causing it [CROSSTALK]

Celie [SP], what -- listen to you, you will not give it up.

Then it is not anything of what I [?caused?] by allowing my thoughts to happen. That has to be rebuked?

Celie [SP], what you -- I think if I just heard you correctly, what you said is, that something that you are thinking now is causing this pain. I never --

            Well, I do not think it is thinking -- I have to change --

No. God, tell me how to -- I do not -- tell me how to explain this toher, Lord. Celie [SP], you have got to give up asking God to take the pain away. He wants you to come to the place where you say, Lord, Your perfect will. If You want me to have this pain, I will have the pain, and that you are not doing.

            See, that I have done for years. I have kept this for 35 -- since -- 32 years, but in the last two years, it has gotten even worse, so I thought that maybe it was something that I was doing, so you are saying that I have to ask God to take the whole thing.

I am sorry that you are in pain, really.

            Well, the only way I can walk is by saying I can do all things through Christ.

And get up and you walk, right.

            I get up and walk. Sometimes it is a long time before you can walk.

Yeah. I am really sorry you are in pain, but I -- you know my testimony. I was sick for years. I could not -- I had sciatica for -- I almost could not walk with the sciatica for a long time. I used to lay in the back of the church, lay in the floor of the church, OK. I was sick for many years. I worked with bronchial pneumonia, so all that I am telling you is that --

            [CROSSTALK] suffering, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] -- is it my own sin of unforgiveness for somebody? That is why I am glad to know that that is not [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

Oh, is that what we are up against, this religious spirit in you? I rebuke this religious spirit in you.          

            If that is what it is, I rebuke it too. [INAUDIBLE]

I am not sure what it is, but I know it is not God. Well, if that is what it is, I rebuke it, OK. You see, what -- and now, I asked you this just before, and you said no. OK, now, listen. I said, Celie [SP], do you think that something that you are doing right now is causing this disease, and you said no, and now you just said it. Listen to what you just said. You are saying that it is something that I am doing right now. I have unforgiveness or something like that that is causing this disease.

            [INAUDIBLE]

Yeah. OK. It does not work like that, Celie [SP]. It is not that you do not forgive somebody, and God zaps you with arthritis. It does not work like that. For someone to have the kind of pain that you are having, it has to be on the family line; it has to be something that -- a way -- an attitude of yours that has been going your whole life.

            [INAUDIBLE]

It is a family line curse, you know. You just have to give it to God, pain and all. I am sorry that you are in pain.

            [CROSSTALK]

But I am telling you, as someone -- I lived with pain for years, OK? There is -- you just have to live with it and say, Lord -- and I will pray this for you right now. Lord, I have done all that I know how to do. If I am still in sin, You have to show me, because I do not know what else to do. If you leave the pain, I love you, and if You do not, if you take the pain, I love You, just be glorified in me. That is what he wants you to do because, you know, you have got this really strong will, and you have got to -- He wants that -- hH is breaking your will.

            Yeah. That is what He is doing.

Yeah. He cannot -- you see, you are a very faithful woman. You have been serving God all your life. You are one of the most faithful women I have ever met in all my years in the church, and He wants to give you what you want, and He wants to appear in you, but somehow He has got to break this will because it is this will of yours and this mind control that is opposing His flowing for you. He cannot -- He is very limited as to what he can do when your personality is this strong.

So I just got the funniest thing [UNINTELLIGIBLE] -- it is a joke. I mean, it just came into my mind. God is trying to break your will, so He giving you pain of arthritis, and you will not let go of the pain. You are demanding that He is going to heal you now or that -- or -- whether it is unforgiveness, you will not let go, and He has got all this pain on you. He is saying, Celie [SP], let go, Celie [SP], and you are fighting so strong. Do you understand what I am saying? You do not know what I am talking about?

            Yes.

You know what I am talking about?

            Right.

You are fighting him. You are working against His purposes in his life. You are working against what you desire with this strong will. I do not know how to help you. I continue to pray for you. I rebuke your mind control and rebellion and pride. I curse all of you in [?Hell?]. I -- but God has to tear it down. My God, you are a strong-willed woman. You just -- I -- do you understand what I am saying?

 

 12/12/14 Transcribed by VerbalFusion

12/17/14 1^st Edit CAS/MJS