<TITLE>03. Par 9-12</TITLE>L-9 Like in the Scriptures found in the Book of II Kings, the 1st chapter. Ahab, the unruly king of Samaria had died. And his son had taken his place. And he was an ungodly man, just like his father, Hezekiah. And one day when he was walking in his porch, he fell through the lattice. Falling to the ground, he injured himself, and some disease set into his body. And then he called two of his soldiers, or temple guards, and sent them up to Ekron to the temple of Beelzebub, the god of that country, which was a devil god. Something like a--a fortunetellers. And he said, "Go and inquire by Beelzebub, by the prophets of Beelzebub, 'Am I going to come off of this bed or not?'"
And as they started, the Angel of the Lord come to Elijah the Tishbite, the true prophet of God, and told him what was going on, and said, "Go stand in the way and head these men off."
And he did. And he said to them, "Is not there a God in Israel? Isn't there a prophet in Israel that you can consult about these matters? Why do you go up to Beelzebub?"

L-10 It wasn't because there wasn't a God in Israel. Neither was it because there wasn't a prophet in Israel. But it was the king's stubbornness and his hatred for the true prophet of Israel. It wasn't because that God hadn't supplied the remedy. It was because that he was too stubborn, and he didn't like Elijah, because Elijah had predicted all the evil that happened to his father. Therefore, he had created by the habits of his home to hate the man of God, to despise him and reject him.
And if you reject the true and living God, there's only one other thing you can go to, that's an untrue god or a false god. If this people of this nation refuses to serve the true and living God, there's only one thing left for them to accept, that's the false god. If there is a true religion of Jehovah, and people refuse to walk in that religious order, then there's only one thing for them to do, that's find some other false way to walk in it.

L-11 And how foolish it seems to the mind, to the reasonable mind, that could reason out. Why take something false when you can have something true? Why would man go after the things of the world to satisfy that thirst that's in him, when God created that thirst for him to thirst after God. Why would he satisfy it with drinking, and gambling, and carousing, when there is peace, and joy, and long-suffering, and goodness, and mercy in God? Why would a man falsely fill hisself full of poison liquors, to make him get out and be carefree, only to know that he's damned his soul and--and diseased his body?
When there is a Spirit of the living God that can give him eternal peace and satisfaction.

L-12 Why would a men or a woman smoke cigarettes to try to calm their nerves when He is the Lily of the valley. Where do you get opium? From the lily. That's where opium comes from. And He is the Lily of the valley. And He has all of the--the things that you need to quieten your nerves. You don't have to smoke. That'll kill you. I think it's "Reader's Digest" that says there'll be a hundred and thirty-three thousand Americans die this year from smoking cigarettes. And why would you do that to quieten your nerves, when you can come into the house of God and find peace and rest?
Seems there's something wrong mentally, like it was with Hezekiah. It's because that you have created something within you, "Oh, I don't like to go to church. I--I wouldn't want to be that kind of a person, that if I had to give up cigarettes, and give up my drinking, and... I--I just wouldn't want that kind of religion."
Well, it's just like Hezekiah was, if he didn't want to hear from God, then he had to hear something falsely.


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