<TITLE>25. Par 238-242</TITLE>L-238 {495-4} They was expecting God to take the crank and turn it on, bring the corridor down, say, "Come on down, you great forerunner of--of My Messiah." And then as soon as he's gone, they pull it back up. And his ministry's over, they crank it down again and put it right down here beside the seminary, and say, "All right, My beloved Son, walk down and tell them." See? Oh, my.
Look, when He come by. Whatever happened? Here come a man that knowed none of their schools, didn't even have a fellowship card, oh, didn't have no credentials. No. Nobody ever knowed He ever went to school a day in His life. You couldn't even tell it by His talking. He didn't even talk in terms of--of ecclesiastics. He talked about serpents, axes, and wilderness, and--and things like that (See?), trees. He talked not in the terms of the ecclesiastical set of the day or this day or any other day.

L-240 {496-2} He come sassafras, as we call it here in Indiana. He come out of the bushes somewhere, didn't even have a shave, had hair standing out on his head. I don't imagine he taken a bath once every two or three months. Right. He never wore pajamas at night. He never rode in an automobile. He never brushed his teeth. Oh, my. What a guy this was. Certainly not.
Here he come stomping down through the wilderness like that, said, "I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight His path...?..."
Some of the teachers stood and said, "Huh. Say, fellow, have you got your... We can't cooperate with you in this campaign. Here, we can't do this. Well, where's your--where's your card; where's your identification?"

L-242 {496-5} He just ignored them. He had a message, so he just went on with it (See?), preaching just the same. They said, "Aw, wait. Well, if we go down there, we'll take the bishop down today and see what he says about it. We'll go down there. If we know... That's the heads the church, and we know that he will have to recognize that. If he's of God, he will recognize our bishop." Put them all down in a row and set them out there, the dignitaries...
He said, "You generation of vipers. You snakes in the grass (collars turned around, and holy fathers, and so forth, huh), who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? You know your hour's at hand. Don't you think that... You say, 'Well, we belongs to this, that, other.' I tell you, the God that I serve is able to rise children to Abraham out of these stones."
Oh, my. Now, he's going to take up his vice versa from ecclesiastical speech. "I say the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Therefore every tree that don't bring forth good fruits is hewed down and cast into the fire. Lo, I indeed will baptize you with water unto repentance, but He's coming after me. The moon will be turned into blood and..." Oh, my.
"He will thoroughly purge His floors. He will take the--the chaff and will burn it with unquenchable fire, and He will take the wheat to the garner. He will separate the weeds and the wheat." Oh, my, what a message.
They said, "This guy? Huh. What'd he say? What--what--what time it was? Oh, ignorance. We've got the man right up there, Brother Jones; he's the guy will do that if there's anybody in this day, he will do it. See? Bishop So-and-so will do it, Holy Father So-and-so." Oh, my. See? God in simplicity (See?), working in simplicity...


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