<TITLE>06. Par 24-29</TITLE>L-24 And Israel was--just reaped what she had sowed. And this young fellow had come in now to take over. And instead of sending down and seeking God, to the people that had come there to this great economy that God had given them, he sent over to the popular idol of the day: the Beelzebub, the popular religion among the people. Just a few were holding the torchlight.

L-25 And Elijah was the great prophet of that day, and he'd forgot about Elijah. He didn't care about Elijah, because Elijah would've told him where he was standing. Therefore they don't want to know what's the truth. They'd rather take this other way, not realizing that you're going to reap what you sow. Exactly. That's a law of nature. You do it. It's a law of the spirit. You certainly have to do it.

L-26 Now. But you know, God reveals His secrets to His prophets. The Bible said over in Amos, "Surely God will do nothing except he reveals to his prophets."
And then when this messengers on the road over to meet the priest, and to find out from Beelzebub the condition of their king, and what would be the outcome... They didn't want to take God's way to line up with God's Word, to line up with God's way of doing things. They wanted to live any way they wanted to and still be religious.
And that's what this nation has come to today. It just don't want to line up with God. It wants to live any way it wants to; but it wants to be religious. So it'll take the easiest way out. It always finds that; water seeks its level, always. Now, they had another arm to lean on. They didn't need Jehovah any more. They didn't want that strict way. They wanted to live after their own lust and their own fashions. And yet they could be religious.

L-27 But remember, way down there in that cave, pulled back an old hairy-looking man with (looked like a fuzzy worm back in there). But under that little brown skin and skinny arms beat the heart that God lived in.
He said, "Elijah, arise and go up there and meet them." Oh, my. What we need today is another Elijah, not afraid to tell the truth. Went up there and stood in the way, piece of sheepskin, or leather, around his loins here to gird him up. And there he stood, the fuzz all over his face. And I suppose he didn't take a bath every night, and use his forks and knives the way we do here in Hollywood, and shine up the way we do. But yet, God was with him. God was in him. We put so much stress on the traditions of the day.

L-28 Now, we notice now, he stood in the way when these messengers come up. And he said, "Is it because... Go tell him, 'Is it because there is not a God in Israel? Is there no prophet here? Is that the reason?'" Oh, there was a God, and there was a prophet; but it was the king's own stubbornness. He didn't want to line up with God and His prophet. And that was the reason that the king was seeking the easiest way out of these things. He said, "Is it because there is no prophet? there is no God in Israel? there's no other--there's no way of finding it?"

L-29 I wonder today, if it is today that we seek comfort. We've just lost--left some holidays. People go out and get drunk on those holidays. They're Sunday school teachers, church members, choir members. Go out and drink and carouse, they gamble. And--and the people live just the way they want to, and yet they belong to the highest churches there is in the city, some of the highest order of this intellectual ecclesiastical system that's dominating this country that there is.
And wonder why? Why don't they come? They're looking for pleasure. They're looking for peace. They're substituting. The devil is substituting such rowdy things as that to take the place of a real good Spirit-filled experience, where the joy of the Lord can come upon them and give them peace and rest.


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