<TITLE>20. Par 195-204</TITLE>L-195 So, remember this rich young ruler's last identification. He was in hell, looking up to a man that had lived right, asking for water. But he had crossed that great chasm without accepting God's potential to bring him back. And there he was, and there he is yet tonight, and he always will be. All right. That's his last identification.

L-196 So, don't identify yourself with some popular sex queen. Or, don't identify yourself with one of these here flat-topped Elvis Presley, carrying on out here with your rock-and-rolls and twist, and call yourself a Christian; or some Pat Boone, because you got a guitar and can stand out and act silly with it.
Let Christ reflect Himself in you. That's right.

L-197 The Pentecostals, today, getting away from the Word of God.

L-198   Do you identify yourself with Judas' group? Remember, Judas started out, to walk with Him. Now, if this hurts, I don't mean it to hurt, but I mean for pinch right hard. See? Yeah. Judas started out on the right foot. He started out, to walk with Him. But when he got to be... get a little money in his hands! Uh-huh.

L-199 I wonder if that could be applied to Pentecost? When we got off of the street corner, and out of the little mission in the alley, and then we got to have a little money. And I wonder if our walk hasn't got a little twisted. When we got a bunch of... Maybe a bunch of people gets in there, say, "Oh, well, this," talking of members. Today, all you want is members, members.

L-200 God don't look at members. He's hunting character, that He can place His Word in somebody that'll believe Him. As I said, other night, Eliezer sweated it out till he found character for the bride. Then he had to make her stand still, in order to get her dressed right, to meet the one they was talking about. See? Why, if you find character, you can't get them dressed right. They can't. Uh-huh. All right.

L-201   Notice now, modern Pentecostal. Now, now, we've talked to the Presbyterian, the Catholic, but I'm going to talk about Pentecostals now, 'cause we're going over here to represent something. See? Pentecost, isn't it a strange thing, that, the Pentecostals in this modern age that the Bible predicts will be like the Laodicea? Laodicea. There's a Greek teacher setting here, listening at me. The Laodicea means "a woman." Laodicea is a woman's name, in Greek. None of the rest of the church is represented by that name. But now it's a woman, a Jezebel. That's right. "And we got rich. We have need of nothing." But don't know that we're "naked, blind, miserable," walked out of the Way. What have we done? We picked up some treasures, maybe, like Judas did, see, then we didn't walk with It no more. Sold out, for personal gain, so many people do that. So many denominations compromise upon the Word, in order to get more members, personal gain; do anything.

L-202   Let some pastor come into a community and build up a nice work. And then they have the meeting, general meeting somewhere, and they take that fellow out, and take some little pet little Ricky and put him in there, and it only scatters the sheep. If God puts a man in there... But, oh, they do that at the conferences, many times; pick on, send some poor brother away, and that's really built up the work. Then, they don't know they break their own neck in doing so, and hurt the church.

L-203 Sold out, to popularity, personal opinion, gain, personal gain, big churches, big denominations. "Our group is bigger than your-all's." Oh, that's the way. The Baptists had a slogan, "A million more in '44." But what have you got?

L-204 I said, the other night, "Confessions; stones is confessions." What good is a stone without a stone mason with the sharp two-edged Sword of God, to mold them and cut them into sons and daughters of God? Yes.


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