<TITLE>08. Par 63-73</TITLE>L-63   And then led to these posts in the floor, where they could all see, the--the main event was just about to take place. There had been many entertainments, maybe like they used to have, monkeys; and they had gladiators, and when they would duel, and the gladiators would say whether the victim (is on the floor) should be killed or not. And they had to see shedding blood. And all the--the events had taken place, and now the main thing come up. The preliminaries were over. And the main event was to make fun of Jehovah, make fun of our God, all because His servant had failed Him.

L-64 See, He is God, that's true, but we're His servants and we got our commission to carry out exactly the way He said to carry it out.

L-65   Then we find, in their drunken irreverent condition as they were in, and now they had all raised up because there was a great silence, perhaps a trumpet sounded. And they were going to have the main event, to what they were celebrating, bringing in Jehovah's witness; bring him out there in the middle of the hall, that they all might make fun of him, and make sport out of him.

L-66 Look at him, humiliated, broken, a symbol of a--of a fallen church, spiritually stripped, morally broken. What an example that is of the conditions of today!

L-67 "Samson, this was Samson, Samson the great; so this was him, the great mighty instrument of God?" Why, many Philistines, I would imagine, them war lords standing there, looking there; why, at the very remembrance of his name, the whole country trembled. Just say "Samson," that's all you had to do, just mention the name "Samson" and everyone trembled at his name, and now look at him.

L-68 You know, it used to be that the Name of the "Lord Jesus" had a great reverence, people highly honored It. And the ones who honored It could cast out evil spirits, by It, and could make nature obey their command, through His Name.

L-69   But I think that Samson here, what I want to parallel it to, is the modern local... or not local, but the--the modern conditions of the church today. It's a perfect parallel. The church has long lost its respect; not because that God has failed the church, but the church has failed God. It wasn't because that God had failed Samson, but Samson had failed God. Where, we ought to be standing in such a condition like the church was when Ananias and Sapphira was brought before the church. But instead of that, we have long compromised with the things of the world and brought it in, until, today, it to be called a bunch of holy-rollers, or--or just an ordinary other denomination, just some church. There is not... It hasn't, doesn't pack the dignity that it should have.

L-70   I guess, as they stood there, standing to their feet, when the main event was taking place. And let's just take ourselves back there for a few minutes. And I would imagine, the Philistines, many of those great warriors standing there, with their fine-jeweled women, their arms around them, drinking a toast to Dagon. "Hail, Dagon, thou art victorious over Jehovah! We have showed them what we can do. We show this fellow, who claimed so much, that there is nothing to Him."

L-71 That's almost the condition of the church today. We who have the keys of the Kingdom in our hand, with every spiritual gift that God give to man, laying in the church, long have we compromised with--with creed, and so forth, until we've windled all the power of God out of it, until it becomes no more than a lodge.

L-72   Like in a recent event, when a Mohammedan stood by the side of our foremost evangelist, and he said, "I'll bring up thirty people that's sick and afflicted, and you heal fifteen of them and I'll heal fifteen of them." And I say not this against the evangelist, by no means; but the evangelist took off and left the man alone, without an answer.

L-73 What a--a--a letdown to our God, for the Word is God. And the promise of the Word is a promise of God, "These signs shall follow them that believe."


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