IS IT TOO LATE?  DFO 1203         12/2/82
--Are You on the Downgrade & Can't Find the Brake?

         1. THIS IS THE 12TH OF FEBRUARY, 1982, A DREAM WHICH I HAD EARLY THIS MORNING: We were in this old sort of British-type tropical resort hotel, a small hotel with a small circular lounge, reception hall or lobby. A small group of us were coming down from the gallery or mezzanine carrying our luggage. I can remember particularly that David was there & I believe Maria as well & a few others & we seemed to be in a hurry, because it appeared that we were late for our plane.
         2. THE AIRPORT, AS SO OFTEN HAPPENS IN THOSE VERY SMALL ISLAND RESORTS, WAS A SMALL BAY a few miles or kilometers from the hotel. And in the dream an amphibious plane had landed in the small bay, pulled up to the dock, & apparently a gangplank had been thrown across for the passengers to board. We were just leaving the hotel & in a hurry & late & we went quickly & caught a taxi & started off for the airport in a hurry trying to make it on time, late as I seldom am.
         3. BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN THE ENGINE APPARENTLY OVERHEATED & THE MOTOR CONKED OUT! Then I suddenly saw another car cruising by, I guess it was another taxi. We hailed it down quickly & loaded into it, & oddly enough I made the driver shove over & I got in the driver's seat & drove rapidly to get to the little airport bay & the dockside plane.
         4. BUT WHEN WE GOT THERE WE FOUND THAT QUITE A CROWD HAD ALREADY ASSEMBLED, & they were practically fighting each other to get to the gangplank & to go up the gangplank into the plane. So we quickly unloaded there at the dockfront & I said, "You stay with the luggage & I'll run onboard quick & get a seat & put my carryons on it to save it & I'll come back & help you with the luggage." So I left David there with the luggage & I fought my way onto the plane.
         5. AND SUDDENLY IT TURNED OUT TO BE VERY VERY LARGE, ALMOST AS BIG AS AN OCEAN LINER! Apparently folks were buying their tickets right on the plane & we were just scrambling trying to get to the ticket window, & I was so anxious to get there & get my ticket I climbed through the window & fell head-over-heels into the office, to the surprise of the purser & the officer standing there!
         6. I SAID, "I WANT A TICKET QUICK!" And just about the time I was asking them to sell me a ticket the plane apparently had loaded & was already taxiing out into open water preparing to take off! I said I wanted a ticket to this certain destination, which wasn't supposed to be far away. And the first officer or the pilot or captain, whoever it was, laughed in my face! And just then I could feel the plane had picked up speed & was hitting the tops of the little wavelets & was taking off & we were airborne! He laughed in my face & said, "Ha!--We're bound for Jerusalem!" And my heart sank! And evidently it'd also taken off & left the poor Family behind & David standing with the luggage on the shore!
         7. MAYBE IT'S A WARNING NOT TO GET TOO FAR AHEAD OF THE FAMILY & certainly don't head for Jerusalem! --And most of all, I would say it makes a good lesson on haste makes waste & squeeze don't jerk, or you'll miss the mark entirely & maybe land far afield somewhere else that you didn't intend to even go to! I would suggest in your plans to go South you also plan very carefully & slowly & with great thought & prayer & care to make sure you go where the Lord wants you to be & where it'll be best for you.
         8. SO DON'T EVER BE SO SLOW & SO LATE THAT YOU DON'T PLAN AHEAD & that you have to rush & hustle & bustle & hurry until you travel dangerously & maybe even get on the wrong transportation going to the wrong place. It just doesn't pay to get in too big a hurry! So for God's sake & your sake, Family, please try to plan ahead & plan to leave not just on time but much much earlier than would even be normally necessary to make sure, in case there are any delays or unexpected stalls.
         9. REMEMBER THE FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS WHO WENT TO SLEEP & OVERSLEPT? And when they said, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" they woke & discovered they weren't ready! They had to rush around & get some more oil for their lamps & by the time they finally got their baggage together & rushed to catch the Rapture it had already left on a rush to the door or the gate of the Bridegroom's Chamber & found that it had already been closed & they were left outside! (Mt.25:1-13)
         10. IF YOU'RE LATE & YOU TRY TO RUSH AROUND AT THE LAST MINUTE TO RECEIVE JESUS, I'LL WARN YOU RIGHT NOW, IT MAY BE TOO LATE! If you keep putting salvation off, let me tell you, Brother, it's going to be too late! "He that being often reproved & hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed & that without remedy!" (Pr.29:1) You're going to get harder & harder until you become so hardened to the Spirit & His Word that you become darkened in your understanding, alienated from the life of God & past feeling so you don't even feel like getting saved any more! (Eph.4:18,19)
         11. AND WHEN THE SHOUT IS NOISED ABROAD, "BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH!" YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE UP TOO LATE, too lost, waiting too long & it's too late to be in a hurry at the last minute! The Bridegroom & His Bride & His faithful ones, His wise ones, will be gone--& you foolish, ridiculous, silly, stupid, idiotic old sinners are going to be left behind to suffer the Wrath of God poured out upon the unbelievers, rejecters, the procrastinators, the hardhearted wicked! As the old poem used to go:
         "Too late, too late!
         The carriage sped down the fearful embankmentat an awful rate!
         And many there were who died that day & suffered an awful fate!"

         12. OR LIKE THE CARRIAGE DRIVER THAT MY GRANDFATHER HAD PREACHED TO TIME & AGAIN. In the old days sometimes going downhill the carriage or wagon was too heavy, especially big beer wagons & that sort of thing were too heavy even for the team of horses of four to six to hold back the terrible weight on a downhill grade. So the team driver had to have brakes on his wagon & had to really stand on that brake to hold back the carriage.
         13. MY GRANDFATHER USED TO TELL THE STORY, THAT HE WAS WITNESSING TO & DEALING WITH THIS CARRIAGE OR WAGON DRIVER MANY TIMES but he always put off receiving Christ: "That's not for me, not now, later! I wanna have my fun first. I'm gonna enjoy this World while I'm still here. Then when I'm old & ready to die, then I'll accept Christ & get saved & that way I'll have the best of both Worlds!" But instead of that, right in his prime, just a few days later after the last time my Grandfather preached to him & dealt with him, he was on a downgrade & something happened to the brakes & the wagon careened down the hill & crashed & he was fatally injured & rushed to the hospital!
         14. MY GRANDFATHER RUSHED TO HIS BEDSIDE TO TALK TO HIM TO TRY TO GET HIM IN AT THE LAST MINUTE, but he was in a delirium or an unconscious state & he was moaning & groaning in his unconsciousness. He was crying out saying, "I'm on the downgrade & I can't find the brake! I'm on the downgrade & I can't find the brake!" My Grandfather couldn't even get through to him, he didn't even hear him. It was too late, his whole life was on the downgrade! He had a chance to find the brake all of his life but he just didn't even try to. And when finally he saw he was rushing to his destruction, "I'm gonna crash!"--he tried to find the brake & it was too late!
         15. IS THAT WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU? Are you gonna wait around 'til the last minute & rush off in a big hurry & discover you've waited too long, you're too late, you're on the downgrade, you can't find the brake? "His Spirit will not always strive with man!" (Gen.6:3) You're gonna pass the point of no return! You're gonna reject Jesus Christ for the last time, you're gonna put off & postpone & procrastinate for the last time until you don't even feel like it any more!
         16. LET ME TELL YOU, IT CAN HAPPEN TO CHRISTIANS, TOO! Not that you're going to be lost, but the Work that God's been trying to get you to do for years, you backsliders, you disobedient, you rebellious, you selfish & wayward who have gone your own way for years now. You went back from the field, back from the plow, back from His Work, & you go on in your selfish easy living. Well, it doesn't always become easy because "the way of the transgressor is hard." (Pr.13:15)
         17. YOU WEREN'T WILLING TO REALLY WORK & REALLY BE DILIGENT, WELL-SERVING SERVANTS OF THE LORD, so God could never have said to you, "Well done thou good & faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" (Mt.25:21) All He can say to you is, "You poor & unfaithful servant, you never did get it done & you're going to enter into everlasting shame & contempt even though saved!" (Dan.12:2) You put off obeying God too long, & one of these days you're going to find out it's too late! The time for your repentance to return to His Work has passed & you too have become darkened in your understanding, alienated from the life of God, past feeling, often reproved but hardened your neck, & there's nothing left for you but to be suddenly destroyed & that without remedy--at least destroyed in this life, & barely saved by the skin of your teeth, barely making it in with all of your works burned--"wood, hay & stubble." (1Cor.3:12-15)
         18. IS THAT YOU? MAY GOD STILL HAVE MERCY ON YOU IF IT'S POSSIBLE! Let's hope you haven't gone too far. Let's hope you haven't waited too long. Let's hope you're not too late. "Today if you will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation!" (Heb.3:7,8)--Don't provoke God to anger, don't aggravate Him to have to chastise you & judge you.
         19. REPENT TODAY WHILE THERE IS YET TIME! "Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Mt.3:2) Let me tell you, it's getting closer every day & this day could be your last day! Even if it kills you it'd be better to die serving God, to die for something than to stay back home there & live for nothin'!--Die on the field in the Will of God rather than live at home out of His Will suffering His chastisements & His judgements & His eventual destruction.
         20. WHERE ARE YOU AT TODAY? ARE YOU WHERE YOU BELONG?--In the center of God's Will on the field of His choice? Or have you backslidden far out of the Will of God, far from the center of His Will, the place of your choice instead, with nothing but a fearful looking forward to His Judgement & His destruction or even execution? (He.10:27) May God have mercy on you!
         21. WHY DON'T YOU REPENT RIGHT NOW? Why don't you cry out to God for mercy, shed some tears, get down on your knees & cry out to God! Plead with God! Beg Him to forgive you, truly repent! Really turn around & start back the right direction from your waywardness & your backsliding & your rebelliousness & your disobedience. Turn around & go God's way & ask Him to give you a little more time to get back into His Will with your mate & your family, if possible. Or even if you have to leave'm behind & forsake all to return to the Lord & His Will!
         22. MY GOD! DO IT NOW! DON'T WAIT ANOTHER MOMENT! DON'T WAIT ANOTHER SECOND! Stop right now at the end of this Letter & drop to your knees & raise your hands to God in prayer & tears & beg Him to forgive you & deliver you & help you get back into His Will. If you really mean it, if it's genuine & sincere & true repentance, He will forgive you & He will forget your past sins & He will help you get back into His Will. He said He will abundantly pardon & He'll help you do again your first works if you'll get back on fire for Him out of your lethargy & coldness & lukewarmness. He says He would you were hot or cold, but because you're lukewarm you make Him sick at His stomach! He wants to vomit you up, throw you up, spew you out of His mouth! (Re.3:15,16)
         23. MAY GOD HELP YOU TO HEAR THIS LAST CALL, WHICH COULD BE YOUR LAST CALL! You may have heard the call to repentance for the last time, & if you reject it this time you are without excuse! He could cut you off in an instant! A roof could fall in on you, your whole World could collapse with you & you could sink into the abyss of destruction only to face the other side--even if saved--with shame!
         24. TOO LATE TO SERVE THE LORD! TOO LATE! You waited too long & you were in too big a hurry at the last minute, & you'll find that you're going the wrong direction, you're cut off, separated, & your chance to have really served the Lord here & now is gone forever! The souls you might have litnessed & witnessed to or won are gone forever! You didn't deliver your soul. Their blood's on your hands & you will suffer the remorse of it in the World to come. You may be compelled to witness their sorrows, their sufferings, their damnation, their loss because of your failure. (Ezk.3:17-19)
         25. SO MAY GOD HELP YOU TO HEED THIS CALL RIGHT THIS MINUTE OR IT MAY BE YOUR LAST! Repent now before it's too late, lest you find you have landed in Hell instead of Heaven or in shame & contempt instead of glorious reward & praise of the Lord! Do it now! Don't wait another moment! May the Lord help you to repent & be saved or have your life saved for His service even yet!--Your family saved, your children saved from the holocaust. Go now! Get out now! Do it quick before it's too late! I think it's coming very soon. May God help you to obey, in Jesus' name.
         26. YOU'VE HEARD HIS VOICE, HE'S CALLING YOU AGAIN RIGHT NOW, PERHAPS THE LAST TIME, & it's not too late if you'll come now! He loves you, He wants you!--But this may be your last chance!--Will you take it?--Or lose it forever! It's up to YOU! Will you do it now!--Or be too late! GHU! WLY! Please do it NOW!