<TITLE>07. Par 61-67</TITLE>L-61 All right, this Jezebel, now, she was a daughter of Abraham, that's true, a princess of an idolater. At that time when the royal family, her royal family, was famed by cruel savage loyalty to Balaam. Her father was a priest of the idol of A-s-t-a-r-t-e (I don't know how you pronounce it; I just picked it up in the history). Ahab used his strategy like Constantine. This great powerful nation laid next to Israel, so therefore...
What did Constantine do last night? He wasn't converted. He was a politician. What was he trying to do? He took the Christians, when they told him they'd pray... And now there, remember, he's... We're talking now of the Nicolaitane. And he said if they would pray, and he'd win this battle, then he would--he'd be a Christian. He had a dream. Painted his shields white, that night, of the cross. Where the Knights of Columbus was born, right at that time; now that's where they take their stand. But he never did anything like a Christian. On one of the Nicolaitane churches, called Saint Sophia, he put a cross. As I said last night, that's the only thing he ever done that sounded anything like he was for the church, as far as I could ever glean out of any of the pages of the histories; and many other scholars say the same thing. We know nothing about his conversion. Now.

L-63 But what did he go into? The thing he wanted to do, he seen the most of Rome now. Now, look at this, watch this strategy. And watch how the Bible confirms it, God, hundreds and hundreds of years before it taken place. And Constantine used the same strategy, God said here, that Ahab used.
Now, Constantine seen a great part of his people were these Nicolaitanes, Christians. Some of them was called heretics, that's the Pentecostals; they were heretics and holy-rollers, and whatmore. There's where your real signs and wonders laid. But the church natural then was coming on up to the organization. What did he do? Constantine played a smart part. He goes over there, and he gets his pagan friends, and gets his Christian friends, and unites the churches together, sets up a--a--brought paganism into Christianity. Christianity and paganism married in the Pergamos church.

L-65 Now, what did He say over here to this tonight? The same thing that Ahab did. Ahab, to strengthen his kingdom, married Jezebel, this idolatress: to strengthen his kingdom, to get more strength into Israel.
And that's what the churches is trying. You see where they're trying to make a Bible, have it out next year in '62? That it's a Bible that'll please the Jews, it'll please the Catholics, and please the Protestants. Oh, brother. I got the newspaper clipping. I haven't got it with me tonight; you heard me read it the other night though. There you are. See?

L-67 Oh, them things to try to increase, they take God's holy things and scatter them any way to increase and make a lot of numbers. That's what the church done. It accepted people into it on the basis of shaking hands, and got renegades and everything else, unregenerated people. But into the true Body of Christ, which is not an organization, but the mystical--mythical Body of Christ, you can only come in there under one way, and that's through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's right. And the same signs that struck them apostles, strikes the church. That's exactly right.


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