You know, it's a little hard for me to conceive of some of the things that are happening, frankly. You know, at ministers' meetings, etc., that I hear, it gets a little difficult. Because there was a day when I first found Christ, and I could never conceive, you know, like of the Bible not being in schools, that one woman, Madeline Murray O'Hare, could so form a case. that this would be banned. And now all you got to do now is listen to her now on the radio. That's all she's gunning for is taxes on churches. She wants them taxed out of existence. The tax on Franklin Avenue Baptist Church would be, they told me, between $45,000 and $50,000 per year. Our general budget is $60,000. That runs the whole church. So I don't talk lightly. These are things which I never could conceive of in my heart. would happen in a nation such as ours. But isn't this true? You know, years ago, I remember hearing that phrase, it can't happen here. A lot of things have been happening that we never expected in this nation we love so much. And so I suggest that you pray with all your hearts that God will undertake. As I said in my prayer, I believe that the income from businesses should be taxed. I believe that since the Baptist church in the south earns the Burlington mills in the world, the mills should be taxed. I believe that. I believe that any church that owns large corporate holdings, large buildings in New York City, skyscrapers, I believe they should be taxed. I do not believe that the church whose sole purpose is the proclaiming of the gospel, whose all its funds go to missionary and to church work, should be touched. And I believe that with all my heart, and I hope that if that day comes and we begin to see those things, that we will be able to stand as one against such a thing. I'm sure that the Roman church will stand very strongly against taxation. They would probably be the first badly affected, I might say that, because they have such tremendous corporate holding. I believe the Vatican, as I understand it, has somewhere around 40 billions in corporate holdings in the United States of America. Now, this is a fabulous amount to be taxed, you see. So, beloved, just let us remember that we stand fast for taxing of business enterprises. We do not stand for the taxes imposed upon those proclaiming the gospel and sending missionaries out to the world. You see this tract out there in Iraq? I hope you'll take one. This has been called the tract of the month. It's being, the Christian businessmen bought 20,000 of them right off to give out. Ah, it's a wonderful, wonderful tract. The joy of my heart is that Frank Denton, who has the junior church, wrote it. Our own Frank Denton. And it's on the, of course, the moon mission. And Frank tells in here how he got on the cables, John 316 and John 317. Just on the cables. He said no one knew it when it was going up, but that's on there. J316, J317. So he's thrilled and he's written this and that's the tract of the month. So take some as you go out. I saw a few of our people giving these out at the Malvern Parade. which I was praising the Lord for. Good witness for Christ as we had the parade the other day. Saw them walking through giving out these tracts, so praise the Lord. So take some with you as you go. And these were given to me. Annual reports are due today. if you can please get them in early this week, all who have annual reports to the church. If you had one last year, you have one this year, all right? That's the easiest way for me to say it. And then for the Word of Life camp program, the final payment of $20, I believe, for your child going away must be in by June 15th, preferably before, for the children going away. If you'll turn with me this morning, we'll go over to... Well, first, I'll just read from Jude, if I might, to you, just a portion that we were discussing last week and I'd like to discuss a little further. Last week, I dealt with the priesthood and the impossibility of Anybody grasping at the priesthood of God, trying to get it by any other power, is an appointment of God. The priesthood of believers is that which is composed of every true believer in Jesus Christ. This was Martin Luther's great cry when he left the Roman church. The great cry was, the priesthood of every single believer, because only priests, I've never changed my attitude on that since I left the Roman church, only priests have the privilege to go into the presence of God. I've never changed my feeling on that, only priests. But I have changed, of course, in that every individual must be a priest, you see. You must be because you are a child of God, you are a son of God. And just as in the Old Testament, the high priest was Aaron and only his children could be priests. This was set by God. So in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the high priest of our profession and only the children of God can be priests. If you're a child of God, you're a priest whether you like it or not. has nothing to do with you. You don't go out to the public and say, I'm a priest. They wouldn't understand you. But you know that you are a priest, because Peter tells us in his epistle that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. And he says, this is to the strangers in all the different lands where the gospel has been preached, so that we have this glorious access to God. We are priests. We're not ordained in any kind of vestments or anything. But we are the simple children of God, the sons of God, therefore we are in the priestly line. We couldn't be a child of God and not be a priest. It would be impossible. No more than any descendant of Aaron could not be a priest in the Old Testament. That was the only way they could be in the priesthood, the children of Aaron. Now, here we are, the children of God. And now it's so wonderful. See, in Aaronic priesthood, there was the one man who was the priest. And all Israel had to come through that priest, you see, and had to come to God. And I'll discuss that in a minute. But I just want to read now the portion in Jude that we're dealing with. First, the 17th and 19th verses, but beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who would walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the spirit. I wouldn't have to take you much beyond the newspapers to get you to understand that this is the age God's speaking of. You know, it's hard sometimes when I read a portion and I want to get to other portions, I keep thinking of all the things that refer so to this. I cut them out, either papers or people give them to me. Sunday services are going to be off at the Disco Church. The building department has just closed the church, it says here. The church, in case you weren't among the irreverent brothers, this is the daily news, who made the scene, is the name of a discotheque situated north of Hell's Kitchen. The church directors, 20 businessmen who spent $240,000 refurbishing the building, took great pains to capture faithfully an irreligious spirit in the converted limestone structure that in saner days was the German Lutheran Church. Since its opening last Thursday night, thousands of parishioners, many looking like escapees from Sodom and Gomorrah. Daily news. Doesn't God speak about the last days? As it was in the days of, what, Lot? Right? So shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of Man. Since that last Thursday, thousands have been swarming to the church. That's the name of it on the outside, the church. The Thursday opening of the club left a few observers with the curious feeling that they were presiding at the closing hours of Western civilization. Hundreds of marred, half-bored couples sat about the pews that surround the dance floor, sipping scotch and watching a man dressed like an altar boy spin rock records beneath a mural of Satan embracing a topless angel. I don't know how many of you have heard of the Society of Satan, which is growing very fast. Society of Satan. And if this doesn't sound like it, as you entered the discotheque, a horned usher greeted them, unhooked a velvet rope, and escorted you to the pew. Each table had a votive candle atop it. The organ was used to augment the cacophony of a $25,000 stereo system, which, along with the blinking strobe lights, bludgeoned the senses with dizzying frequency. There was also a girl with a shaved head and several lost souls dressed in nuns' habits. One of the church's directors confessed, we probably couldn't have gotten away with this a couple of years ago. And with an inspirational bit of understatement, he said, you know, times have changed a little bit. Slightly, slightly. Notice what that Word of God I just read said, these be those who separate themselves, sensual having not the Spirit. And then over to the verse over in the 10th verse, these speak evil of those things which they know not, but that which they know naturally as brute beasts. I want you to notice, God calls men brute beasts. You know, we hear some people say men are only beasts. Well, God calls them brute beasts. Certain type people, certain type men. In those things they corrupt themselves, woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, they've ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Corre." That's the one that we're dealing with right now. These are spots in your feasts of charity, your love feast, the agape feast, the Lord's Supper, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withers without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now, I spoke to you of Korah last week. And I spoke to you, of course, of his priesthood, his desire for the priesthood, I should say. Korah, or Koray, Koray in the Greek, Korah in the Hebrew, was a servant in the house of God. He had a high position, but he wanted more than this. He wanted to be in Aaron's place, the high priest of God. He wanted to take Aaron's place. And so he opposed Moses and Aaron, the two great leaders of God, brothers, Moses and Aaron. And in his opposition, He was gathering to himself a great crowd. It says 250 of the princes of the congregation, the leaders of the congregation. It says these men were men of fame and renown. It says that in the second verse of the 16th chapter of Numbers. If you want to change there, I'm going to be there. 16th chapter of Numbers. Because this is that which has been mentioned in Jude. He says, the gainsaying of Kore. Now, in case you don't know what the word gainsaying means, gainsaying means disputing, these are the things you'll find in your dictionary, denying, speaking against, contradicting. That's what gainsaying is. Denying, speaking against, disputing with, all kinds of contradiction. So here they are, and they're bringing 250 with them. There is Korah, who is a son of Levi. That's his descendancy. He has a wonderful position in the house of God. And there's Dathan and Abram, who are the grandchildren removed of Reuben. Reuben's tribe has nothing to do with the priesthood. Levi's tribe, which is Korah, does have something to do with it. God made them the servants in the house of God. But Aaron's line, Aaron and his sons, they were the high priests. And so he wants to gain power, as we find later, Moses says that he says to them, now ye seek the priesthood also. That's in verse 10. Moses says, now you seek the priesthood. So he gathers about him 250 of the princes of the congregation. They are men of renown, men of fame, men of prestige. trying to gather all those who are considered very highly in the congregation, and to gather them around them and then all go up to Moses and Aaron and say, this is what we want. You take too much upon you. You decide everything concerning the congregation of Israel, and we don't believe that this should be the position you have. Notice now, They gathered themselves, third verse, against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you, seeing that all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. Today, I don't want to speak about the priesthood. I spoke to you about that last week. I spoke to you because you have to understand that there is something about priesthood that can only be for sons, the sons of the high priest. I'm glad that I'm related to Jesus Christ, that Jesus says, I'm not ashamed to call you my brethren. You've been born again. You are more a child of the Father, my Father in heaven, than anybody else could be. You're more a child of God than you are a child of your earthly father. Because I have given you something your earthly father can never give you. I've given you my very own spirit. You can know me completely. Your earthly father or mother would never want you to know them. never, never, never, but I've given you my Holy Spirit, and he will reveal unto you and tell you all about Jesus, all about me, and the Spirit will give you that revelation because he has come to dwell in your breast by faith. Therefore, you are more a priest with this glorious access to me because you are a son of the living God." Notice in the fortieth verse, because I just want to close out the priesthood. He says, I want this to be a memorial to you, to the children of Israel, that no stranger which is not of the seed of Aaron is to come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah and as his company as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses. says, don't let any stranger ever try to come to me. If they're not of Aaron, they cannot approach me. They cannot come near me. Come to the New Testament, no man cometh to the Father but by me. Why does he say it? We have a high priest in the heavens who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, tested in every point as we are. Whoever lives to make intercession for us. So we have this glorious privilege, and we don't argue about it because we know it's from the Old Testament fulfilled in the New, that we had to have a high priest, a living high priest. And it tells us in Hebrews that we have a high priest who can never be touched by death. He ever lives now. He said death came to the high priests of old. They couldn't continue their ministry no matter how fine they were. He said there could have been a good priest of Aaron, one of his sons or grandsons, but then someone would come along who would be filled with greed. and would be the most terrible high priest they could have in Israel. But no longer that way. He said, now Jesus is your high priest. He is touched with the feeling of your infirmities. He's tested in every point as you are. Yet he's without sin. And you have this glorious access through this high priest. No man comes to the Father, Jesus says, but by me. And if he were to go on, he would say, because I am the high priest of your profession. You are my children as Aaron's children were his. They and they alone had access. And you remember the word of God when he said back in Numbers that it would be impossible for any stranger, no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, can come near to offer incense before the Lord? You can't bring your prayers, you can't do anything. Jesus said, without me, ye can do what? Nothing. Why? Because you have no other access. It's the only possibility of access. Now, this morning, for the little bit we have together, I just want to mention the rebellions that there are, were then, and are now. Because we're living in a great age of rebellions, tremendous rebellions. Here it was in the economy of God, a great rebellion develops. These are the men of renown. These are men of high character. It's strange how these things happen. If it happens in the church, you'll never find that it is some satanic individual whose soul looks like Satan And it is so evident that he's going to cause problems. You will never find that it's this type person because outwardly people know that type man. They know that type woman. They're afraid of them inside. They sense it. Satan never picks men like that. Satan picks those of highly moral character. He picks those who are the epitome of morality. And he will take that person who is renowned and well-known and take that person and work on them to fill them with all of the venomous things that can destroy a congregation of God. Some of you have experienced this in churches sometime. Some evil spirit comes into the fellowship. It's only one person sometime. And they can gather around them quickly a great crowd. And they try to get the most popular men. They try to get the men of most substance and gather them around them. And then they go and say, you don't take too much upon you. But you notice the lie he spews out? Is not all the congregation righteous? Are they not all holy? Of course they're not. What congregation in the world has ever been all righteous and all holy? Does the mere fact that we sit in Franklin Avenue Baptist Church pews make us righteous? Does the mere fact that we're part of a congregation make us holy? Of course not. But this was the argument of Korah. Is not all the congregation righteous? Are they not all holy? You take too much upon you, Moses. As though to say, you did this on your own, Moses. You decided within yourself that you were going to govern, you were going to rule, and that Aaron, your brother, would be the high priest. And this was as far from the truth as it could be. But people don't look for truth in a time like that. There are, listen, there are thousands of people all over, in churches, in our nation, waiting to rebel. They haven't got the real intestinal fortitude within themselves to do anything, but they'll follow a leader. Give them an iron, whoever thought Germany would follow Hitler. We could go down through history and show how one man in spite of Satan, can become the demonic ruler of many people. And time and time again this happens. And that spirit of disaffection rises in people's hearts. And these people, these individuals seem to know just how to do it, how to stir up the passions of the people, and how after they get their passion stirred up to steer them. And they always have just two things. You know, I read a book a hundred years old, and it struck me, you know, because it speaks like today. And listen to what this writer says. It's the most critical moment in the history of an assembly when a spirit of disaffection displays itself. For if it is not met in the right way, the most disastrous consequences are sure to follow. There are materials in every assembly capable of being acted upon, and it only needs some restless master spirit to arise. in order to work on such type materials and fan into a devouring flame the fire that's smoldering. There are hundreds and thousands ready to the flock around the standard of revolt. How true, huh? Hundreds and thousands ready to flock around the standard of revolt, when once it has been raised, who have neither the vigor nor the courage to raise it themselves. It is not everyone that Satan takes up as an instrument for such work. Such men know how in the first place to stir the passions. Their most potent agency, this is a hundred years old, notice this. The level with which they can most effectually raise the masses is this. If they can succeed in persuading people that their liberty is being curtailed, and that their rights are being infringed upon, they're sure to gather a number of restless spirits around them and do a vast deal of serious mischief. And so it's so easy if you're looking to find a group that will revolt with you. And Korah found the whole group, they just went along with them, revolting completely against the servants of God. So what does Moses do? I'll tell you the story so that you get it. He says to Korah, all right, he says, he fell upon his face and he prayed. God wanted to judge them immediately. He says, Moses and Aaron come out from the congregation and let me judge them all. And they plead with God, no, don't judge. Give us this chance to talk to them. And here's what Moses says to Korah. He says, you have your 250 men, yourself, I want you to fill your senses with incense. And you come to the door of the tabernacle. And he says, I want Abram and Dathan also to come. And he says, This is what I'm going to do. Let God choose which one he wants to rule. This is the man of faith, see. Let God choose the one who's to rule. And so it tells us that the 250 famous men filled their senses, brought them, and Aberin and Dathan, Moses wanted them to come down. They said, why should we come down? They said, why should we come down? You take too much upon you. Why do we come down? You've taken us out of the land of Egypt. You brought us into the wilderness. You promised us money, milk and honey and all of these things. We don't have any of these things. We're starving. We hardly had any water. So they refuse to come out and they stay in their houses with their cattle and with their wives and the children and all of the rest of their possessions. And the 250 come with their censers. And then Moses makes the statement. He says, now Lord, He says, he looks at Abram and he looks at Dathan and all their families. And he says, now, Lord, they had all the crowd around them, all that were backing them up, you see. He says, now, Lord, if these men die the normal death, if they die like all men do, by normal progression of health, going down, old age, then if this is so, then they are right and I'm wrong. But Lord, if you do some new thing, some great thing, and show these people that you have chosen. I have not chosen myself. I have not chosen. They are telling me that I'm doing too much. Lord, I have not chosen myself. Thou has chosen me. Thou has called me. Now he says, if these die natural deaths, then Lord, I'll have to say, I guess there's been something wrong with me. Did I misunderstand the call of God? But he said, if you do a new thing with all of these and show them that it is I, and what happened? It says, and as he finished speaking, the ground clave open and all of them were plunged down and died. Moses stands there. And then there's the 250 men with censers there at the door of the temple. And the next verse says, and fire descended upon the 250, including Korah, and they all died. And their senses, it says, laid upon the ground. And God said to Moses, take all of those senses, and take them, and mold them, and wield them, and make them into plates, and put them on the altar. and let the people of Israel look at those censers of those 250 revolting ones and remind them that when they disobey me, they pay the price of the chastening hand of God. And he says, make them and put them as plates upon the altar. And so the plates, the censers were taken and molded down. burned down and brought down into metal, molten metal, and then put upon the altar to be a memorial to Israel forever, not to disobey God and to believe that when God called Moses and Aaron, he called them and they did not appoint themselves. Now may I say this, this type revolt, beloved, is a costly one. There are rebellions today in the church that are of the same character. There are rebellions in the church throughout this nation. I dread saying it, but there are revolts in the fundamental churches, and I dread saying it, that are departing from the Word of God. There are departures in Christian colleges from the Word of God. There are departures in so many areas that it shocks the ministry when they come together and they hear the things that are developing. If I were to tell you just the ones I know on Long Island that are departing from the things of God, some of the finest, best-known churches are getting involved in things they never should have gotten involved in. Getting involved, beloved, in an area that's a most difficult area. Some people have said to me, Pastor, why don't you get into this movement around here? I say, what movement? Well, why don't you share your pulpit? Why don't you do what the other churches are doing, Pastor? And then they named me two, three Baptist churches that I know the preachers. One very famous preacher. I say, why don't you do what they do? I say, well, what do they do? He says, you invite the other Protestant ministers to come in and take your pulpit, you go and take theirs. And he said, and of course, the big thing is you get to the Catholics. Because he said, you go down to their church and take their pulpit, and you let the Catholic priests come up and take your pulpit. That's what's happening. I can name you three churches right now, you'd all know. Catholic priests in the pulpit, several Sundays. What happened? It sounds so good and so plausible. It gives the preacher the opportunity to go into the Roman church and preach the gospel, but it gives the Catholic priest the privilege to come into a born-again pulpit and preach what he wants to preach. What has happened? In those churches, I have seen what happened. Now young couples are coming up before the board and saying, if a Catholic priest can stand in your pulpit and preach, why can't I marry a Catholic boy? Why can't I marry a Catholic girl? Yet if I were to name you the churches on Long Island that are doing it, you'd be shocked. But it's caused such consternation in a couple of churches that two or three of the deacons have resigned. Beloved, this is a sacred desk. There are rebellions going on all over, and the rebellions in the Roman church are very heavy, but it doesn't mean that they've given up on essential doctrine of the church. You know, people get so confused. They say, you don't have to wear a thing on your head anymore. The girls now, you see they can walk in. You don't find the old ladies doing it though. You watch them outside that Catholic church, they still pull that veil out and put it over their heads. They don't care what the priest says. What? You don't have to wear that? You don't have to eat fish on Friday? The altar isn't—the priest doesn't face the back now, he faces the people. Still an altar. Sacrifice hasn't changed it one little bit. Still, Mary in the reverential place where she is co-mediatrix with Jesus Christ for men's sins hasn't been one little change in any of these things. Yet, the devil has so deluded the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I warn you here, because you're going to hear it in other places, they're inviting the priests in. And they say, I want to introduce your father so-and-so. I'd have a great job introducing anybody as father. I have but one father, and he is in heaven. And so this type ministry is going on in Jersey. You know, just about two weeks ago, Alice and I had gone out for a bite of lunch and was in one of the local restaurants. at the table next to us, I don't know how we ever got set in this position, were ten priests from the Rockville Center Parish. They were from the cathedral, and they sat at the table next to us. Needless to say, Alice and I, we usually talk a lot, we just sat and listened. And I tell you, it was something to listen to. You wouldn't believe it. I thought I wondered how I would feel. I tried to picture how I felt when I was a Roman Catholic, and I thought, suppose I was still a Roman Catholic, and I sat here, and I hear everything these men are saying. First of all, this has nothing to do with what they said. I merely mention this. Before they eat, they have three or four drinks, so they get rather loud. They're the loudest people in the restaurant. It's unfortunate. I tell you, that breaks my heart. I don't care if they're priests or not. It just breaks my heart. It breaks my heart to think that people there, they don't only look at them as priests, they look at it as a church. They don't care whether they're Protestants or Catholics because they're nothing. And they point at them and say, see, that's the way it is. Well, they're having a wild time, you know, talking. And of course, they're talking about the church, and there are the old priest and the young priest. And the young priest is saying, he looks up at the old fellow, you know, I guess the senior, the pastor of the church. And he says, listen, times are changing. He says, before long, we'll all be married. You know that. And he says, this whole thing is going to change. It's going to be radically different. So the old priest, who wasn't drinking at all, I noticed, he looks at him, and he says, tell me, son, You talk about change. Tell me what you want us to change to. So the young fellow, well, you know, he says, that's the problem. He says, you're all yelling out for change. But he says, when I ask you what the change is it to be, there are no answers. And then they begin to tell stories at the table that are here sort of stood up. And I'm thinking to myself, here are all these people in this restaurant, and I'm sure that there were Roman Catholics there, and I wonder what are they thinking when they see the priest of the Rockville Center Parish and the cathedral in Rockville Center. all sitting there and all talking loud, all laughing raucously and talking about the foolishness. And I heard one of them say, you know, and they say it so loud to each other. They say, one says to the other, he says, incidentally, I see that nice good looking nun just came in. Did you notice her? Now imagine, imagine, how would you feel if you had been a Roman? And then one of the others said, well, you're going to get married soon anyway. What difference? You know, something like that. And then a big laugh. But beloved, I have to say that the rebellions in the Catholic Church are completely different, you see. They're not the kind of rebellions of a Martin Luther. That's our problem. There are some of them. But the rebellions are the great sweep. You know what they're doing? They're sweeping these young men from the strictness of the ritual in the Catholic Church. Their rebellions are sweeping from that great strictness and going right past the modernists completely, and they're gonna be more modern than the most modern modernists you ever met. And they're gonna throw it all over, boy. And that's what's happening. Rebellions, rebellions, rebellions. Oh, it's a quarter past. I wanted to talk about some other rebellions. But rebellions have started, you know. Listen, young folks, I believe in rebellion. I believe in the kind of rebellion that a Luther had. I believe in the young people who will rebel toward God, who will rebel against this society. which is calculating and cold and indifferent and has no other answer. I am for rebelling against all that has been wrong with your mothers and fathers and your past ancestors and turning to the Christ and showing forth your rebellion in the same kind of strength and power that I see some of the college students who merely just rebel and have no idea exactly what they want. Actually, they're saying to the administration, the head of the colleges, ye take too much upon you. Are not we all part of this thing? Therefore, let us do the governing. Now, beloved, I think our young people today have a tremendous amount of power within their soul. And oh, how I would to God that our young people would rebel properly. But I want to tell you something, the kind of rebellion that I sponsor takes a lot of courage, more than you'll ever have to have to follow that motley crowd. Oh, that's easy to follow them. You're not the leader, they're the leaders. But the kind of rebellion that I'm talking about is a rebellion that's individual in every human heart. This takes strength. It takes no strength to follow the crowd. I'm talking about the kind of rebellion that develops in a young person's heart, and that rebellion is away from the world and toward God. old things are passed away, and old things have become new, and there's a desire to really live for God and to serve God, and you have a vision in your heart that's different than the world ever has. What does the world have to offer you? You tell me. the average mother and father in congregations that I've spoken to, after I've preached once or twice, they've come to me and they've said to me, you know, would to God at the moment, I had never born children into this world to see what they face if they have not Christ. Oh, rebellions, rebellions. May our rebellions be proper. May we not be duped and taken in, as many churches are being duped and taken in. You know, they see me march in the parade, you know, in Malvern. Great witness for the Lord. Father Singleton usually comes over to me. That's what he calls himself. He introduces himself to me. I'm Father Singleton. He's from the Malvern Parish. Come over and introduce himself to me, and he'll speak to me glibly about nothing. But he forgets that I once had dealings with him. He forgets that there are a couple of families in this church, one family especially, that I remember that he went to when he was dead drunk and told them because they were coming to this church they would be cursed. At that time, I was a violent heretic. and he wouldn't talk to me. But now, I'm a separated brother, and he would enjoy being in my pulpit. Yes, times have changed, beloved. But I have to say something, past again. The only person we'll ever get in this pulpit is someone who loves Jesus Christ as their Savior and preaches the word of God in all of its power. Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word. Lord, we sense how in Israel this rebellion developed. One man trying to take away the ways of leadership, change the whole thing about, and consider that he's going to take the place of Moses or Aaron. Lord, how easily great schisms develop. Lord, we see it all around us now. We see how the devil works so simply. He makes people think, well, this is love, you see. We're all getting together. It doesn't matter much what you preach as long as you're sincere. God deliver us. Lord bless us. We pray that we may be faithful. Lord, we're not bigoted, we long for every soul that we touch with the gospel of Christ that they might come to love the Lord Jesus, but we are faithful to thee above everything else. And so, Father, keep us faithful. Oh, God, touch our young people's heart. We remember, it says, in the days of the latter rain before the Lord's coming, that young people will dream dreams and have visions of the greatness of Christ. Oh, how I pray as pastor and friend for these young people. God, give them visions of Christ. Strength and power to follow him and not to follow the line of the world. There is a way that seemeth right to man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. And we have the way of life. Now, Father, touch each of our hearts this morning. We pray in Jesus' blessed name. Amen.