<TITLE>07. Par 30-33</TITLE>L-30 Now, to you that's turning in the Scriptures to I Samuel the 3rd chapter. This is how it reads for the first ten verses.
 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
Oh, how I would like to dwell there for a minute. Maybe some other time... It just strikes me. Let me just read it once again, that verse.
 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; for there was no open vision.
See what a vision is then? It's the direct Word of the LORD. And the LORD's Word was precious.
 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes begin to wax dim, that he could not see.
 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
 And he ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou callest me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and laid down.
 And the LORD--And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I... Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shall say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and laid down in his place.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

L-31 The voice of God... Hearing His voice in that day was a rare thing. See, there was no open vision. And it was a rare thing, the real Voice of God. Because the people had gotten away. They had a church in that day that just didn't follow the commandments of the Lord. They had a minister by the name of Eli. And he'd got away from God by just teaching the precepts of what the people wanted to believe.
If that isn't parallel till this day. He just taught the people, and he--he took his choice ones, and he had his sons to take the best of the flesh from their--the hooks out of the--the offering, and it just become a place where the offering was the main thing.

L-32 And Samuel just careless about the way that he handled the commandments of the Lord, and the real Word of God was a rare thing.
That's the way it is today. We go to church, and we find the people going in and having some great drive on. "We want to make our denomination this year so many more. Bring your letter from your other church and unite with us." And slogans like "a million more in '44," and all such as that, cry--trying to outgrow the next denomination... And in doing so we've let the bars down of the Bible. We've got away and begin to teach different things.

L-33 The prophets spoke of these days, that when they, for teaching would teach the man's doctrine and not God's doctrine. And we've seen so much of that, and it's gone on so long, until today the Word of the Lord is a rare thing, that someone can come and say, "THUS SAITH THE LORD."
Now, we've had a lot of impersonations of that. Satan is really on the job. And many years gone by people were afraid to say that unless it was the Lord. But today they just don't care. But it's a rare thing to hear the voice of the Lord and to find a person that can say, "The Lord spoke to me."
You notice that amongst the people any more, that they hardly hear a time that when they say, "The Lord spoke to me." When men and women used to pray all night, and their homes were set in order by the Book of the Lord, and God was first in their home...


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