Dad
May 16, 2003
GP 153227/5/81
1. PTL! HALLELUJAH! TYJ! (SINGS:)
"OUR LIFE LIKE A SAILOR'S SWEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT SEASON,
And forward past billows and white foaming reefs;
The struggle goes on, oft' contrary to reason,
But Jesus, our Captain‚ removes all our griefs!
With Christ as our Helmsman in darkness and danger,
We rest in His keeping by night and by day;
He'll anchor our bark in that Haven up yonder‚
And there we'll forget all the toil of this way.
2. "IF BILLOWS SURROUND US AND TEMPESTS RAGE MADLY!
We're nearer the Haven each moment that goes;
Soon sorrows and troubles, that troubled us badly,
Are all left behind in that ocean of woes.
With Christ as our Helmsman in darkness or danger,
We'll rest in His keeping by night or by day;
He'll anchor our bark in that Haven up yonder‚
And there we'll forget all the toil of this way!"
PTL! Hallelujah!
3. I'M GONNA SING SOME SONGS ABOUT HEAVEN TONIGHT, and of course, we have to compare Heaven a little bit with the Earth from which we are going to come to go to Heaven. It's like contrasting the light with the darkness. So in order to sing about Heaven, we have to sing about the terrible old World in which we now live and the struggle of life that we now have to toil in‚ in order to reach that wonderful Heavenly Haven in our Bark of Salvation someday!
4. THAT'S AN OLD SONG THAT A DEAR OLD SWEDISH FRIEND OF MINE, a countryman from Sweden‚ Brother Einar Waermo, used to sing for us in some of our meetings.—A very precious man of God who loved the Lord. And coming from a seafaring nation like the Swedes, naturally he sang a lot of songs about sailing. And this was one of his favourite songs and one of our favourites too. He's a precious dear Saint who probably now has gone on to be with the Lord‚ because that was about 40 years ago. Well, PTL! Hallelujah!
5. DOESN'T THIS LOOK A LITTLE BIT LIKE HEAVEN TONIGHT? We've left the South Sea island and here we have arrived in Heaven! You can tell by all the flowers! Either that or it's a funeral parlor, I don't know which! But anyway, funeral parlors are the next step to Heaven! So praise God! Your funeral will really be just a memorial of your departure from this life and your homegoing to the Home that the Lord has prepared for you.
6. ANOTHER DEAR OLD FRIEND OF MINE THAT I'VE MENTIONED QUITE A FEW TIMES USED TO SING THIS SONG, and he said the Lord gave him this song one-upon–a-time when he was just wandering around the country looking for a home. And all of a sudden as he saw a certain house this song began to come to him. He knew that the Lord was leading him to that Earthly home for the time being, after many years of serving the Lord in evangelistic work and choir work and now retiring, settling down with his family almost grown—dear Dr. Mitchell.
7. DEAR OLD DR. MITCHELL CAME AND ENCOURAGED US IN OUR FIRST PASTORATE, in Arizona, the little church we built with our own hands. And this was one of his favourite songs that led him to his last Earthly home, that I know of. As I recall he went from there to be with Jesus. PTL!
8. (SINGS:)
"WALKING ALONG LIFE'S ROAD ONE DAY,
I HEARD A VOICE SO SWEETLY SAY:
'A Home up in Heaven I'm preparing for you,
A beautiful, beautiful Home!'
Home, Sweet Home, Home Sweet Home!
Where we'll never roam!
I see the light of that palace so bright,
My Home Sweet Home!
Life's day is short, we soon shall go,
To be with Him Who loved us so.
I see in the distance that shining shore,
And our beautiful beautiful Home!
Home Sweet Home, Home Sweet Home‚
Where we'll ne'er more roam!
I see the light of that City so bright,
Our Home Sweet Home."
9. PTL! DID YOU LIKE THAT LITTLE SONG? Well, you know, we've been talking about Bible Prophecy and the Endtime and the coming of the Lord and that Heavenly City over there, so I thought it would be very appropriate to follow it up now with some songs about Heaven! PRAISE THE LORD? (Sings:)
10. "AFTER THE TOIL AND THE HEAT OF TODAY,
After the troubles are past, after our sorrows are taken away,
We shall see Jesus at last!
He will be waiting for me, Jesus so kind and true!
On His beautiful throne He will welcome us Home,
After the day is through."
11. "THERE'LL BE LIGHT IN THE SKY,
FROM THAT PALACE ON HIGH,
WHEN WE COME TO THE END OF LIFE'S ROAD.
Sweet relief from all care will be waiting us there,
When we come to the end of life's road.
When the long day is ended, and our journey is o'er,
We shall rest in that blessed abode.
There the Saviour I love will be waiting for me,
When I come to the end of life's road."
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen!
12. "WHEN I SHALL COME TO THE END OF MY WAY,
WHEN I SHALL REST AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE'S DAY,
When 'Welcome Home' I shall hear Jesus say,
Oh that will be sunrise for me!
Sunrise tomorrow! Sunrise tomorrow!
Sunrise in glory is waiting for me!
Sunrise tomorrow! Sunrise tomorrow!
Sunrise in glory for eternity!"
Praise God? There's going to be a sunrise tomorrow! Hallelujah? TYJ! And what a sunrise! TYL! (Sings:)
13. "A PERFECT DAY IS COMING BY AND BY,
A day of peace and freedom from all care.
With all the good for which our spirits sigh,
And not a cloud to dim that sky so fair!
When morning dawns, farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There'll be no pain, no death in God's tomorrow,
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!
14. "SO TRUST IN GOD, HOWEVER DARK YOUR WAY!—
And wait with patience for that Morn to break!
Hold to His hand until the break of day!
When in His likeness we shall there awake!
When morning dawns, farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There'll be no pain‚ no death in God's tomorrow‚
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!
15. "HOW LITTLE THEN THESE TRIALS OF LIFE WILL SEEM!
How light the heavy burdens we have borne;
The deepest sorrow, like a passing dream,
Will be forgotten in that blessed morn!
When morning dawns‚ farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There'll be no pain‚ no death (Weeps) in God's tomorrow,
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!"
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
16. I'M SORRY, IT'S ALWAYS HARD FOR ME TO SING THAT SONG WITHOUT A FEW TEARS, because I'm thinking about the folks we have to leave behind—you—and I know how some of you are going to miss me when I'm gone. I don't think I'm going to miss you so much because I think I'm going to still be with you‚ PRAISE THE LORD‚ in Spirit!
17. I BELIEVE THE LORD'S GOING TO LET ME COME BACK HERE AND WORK WITH YOU and help you all that I can, like other ministering spirits help us now. So I'm going to be very near to you and very dear to you, and as the Lord has revealed to us time and again, if you'll just listen softly to that still small voice, I'll be whispering in your ear! PTL! TYJ! Hallelujah!
18. WE WON'T HAVE TEARS THERE, OR IF WE DO, HE SAYS HE'LL WIPE THEM ALL AWAY! I guess we will have a few tears when we get there‚ when we think about all that we could have done that we failed to do and all of the unfinished work we leave behind. And you, our loved ones that (weeps) we'll wish we had loved more and we'll wish we'd been kinder to.
19. WE'LL BE SORRY FOR THOSE CROSS WORDS THEN that we spoke so quickly and so gruffly and roughly, impatiently! And we yell loudly and crossly and we're anxious to get things out of the way and get things moving. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I spoke to you that way, please forgive me, because I love you and I wouldn't hurt you for the world! I'm so glad He forgives and you forgive and still love me and that Jesus is going to wipe away these tears.
20. I THINK MAYBE WE'LL DO SOME CRYING WHEN WE GET THERE, to think about these things and our failures and our mistakes and our shortcomings and our sins and the unkind words and the unkind deeds or the neglect of kind deeds. But He's gonna wipe away all these tears then. Maybe we'll shed a few thinking about it and thinking about you that we've had to leave for a little while, but then He's gonna wipe away all the tears and there'll be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying, no more death, no more sadness. PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Isn't that wonderful? After today, God's tomorrow is going to be a day of gladness. (Sings:)
21. "GOD'S TOMORROW IS A DAY OF GLADNESS‚
Its joys shall never fade.
No more weeping, no more sense of sadness,
No more foes to make afraid.
God's tomorrow, God's tomorrow,
Every cloud will pass away at the dawning of that day!
God's tomorrow, no more sorrow,
For I know that God's tomorrow will be brighter than today!"
Hallelujah? TYJ? PTL!
22. ALL THESE OLD SONGS HAVE ABOUT THREE OR FOUR VERSES and I could sing them all to you, but I thought maybe I'd just sing you at least a verse and a chorus, and if I didn't sing too much, you might be able to remember and learn to sing it yourself! I found most people can't learn three verses. Only I as a singer and a soloist when I was young was expected to learn two or three verses by heart and sing them without the words or the music, straight to you from my heart, and I'm trying to do that tonight, or today! Here we are, God's tomorrow! Hallelujah! TYJ!
23. SO HE'S GONNA WIPE AWAY THESE TEARS! PTL! Amen! In the meantime maybe I'd better wipe'm away! TYL! I'm gonna have to get a few out of my nose too, if you'll pardon me, if I'm gonna sing, because a good deal of the sound, believe it or not, comes through your nose! Ha! And I can't be all plugged up with tears! PTL! (Wipes tears, blows nose.)
24. SO I JUST WANTED TO SING A VERSE AND CHORUS OF EACH ONE OF THESE OLD FAVOURITES OF MINE, and maybe if I sing enough of them and you like them‚ you'll want to learn them. And if you keep playing these over and over again, I believe you will learn them, and perhaps your children too, to sing about the beautiful days of God's Tomorrow! And if you think they're too short this way, well, then you can just repeat the chorus each time.
25. BUT I WANT TO GET IN AS MANY OF THESE SONGS AS I CAN before I have to leave here for God's Tomorrow‚ and so you'll be able to hear them and appreciate them and sing them. PTL! Well, God's Tomorrow, where's God's Tomorrow? It's at the End of the Road! The end of this road‚ life's road, praise God! (Sings: )
26. "THERE'LL BE LIGHT IN THE SKY
FROM THAT PALACE ON HIGH
WHEN WE COME TO THE END OF LIFE'S ROAD!
Sweet relief from all care
Will be waiting us there
When we come to the end of life's road.
When the long day is ended
And this journey is o'er,
We shall rest in that blessed abode.
There the Saviour we love
Will be waiting for me‚
When I come to the end of this road!"
Hallelujah! TYL!
27. "WHEN THE LONG DAY IS ENDED,
THE JOURNEY IS O'ER,
WE SHALL REST IN THAT BLESSED ABODE!
There the Saviour I love
Will be waiting for me,
When I come to end of life's road!"
PTL! Is one verse enough? Or do you think I ought to sing two of each one so you'll learn to sing the song better?
28. WELL‚ THERE'S AN OLD–TIMER THAT I HEARD THE COMPOSER HIMSELF SING, a funny old country fellow with a big guitar, and he was as gray and long-haired as I am! I think he even had a beard! But he was an old warrior of the faith, he'd a long-time been in the Lord's service and evangelistic work and a great part of his ministry was in song.
29. HE COMPOSED THESE SONGS HIMSELF! He wrote them, at least he got inspired with them by the Lord and they came out of his heart and he wrote them down and sang them for you and me. So I'm gonna pass on one of his dear old songs, a kind of country and western type song! Well, there's gonna be all kinds of people in Heaven, so I reckon there's gonna be all kinds of music there too!
30. I DON'T DOUBT THAT THERE'S GOING TO BE PEOPLE ON EVERY PARK BENCH WITH THEIR GUITARS OR WHATEVER, or on every street corner—there are streets up there in that Golden City—and walking along the streets singing and sittin' in the parks singing! I think we're gonna be doin' a lot of singing up there, still enjoy it, and still enjoy our beautiful songs that we sing in our Family. What do you think about that, huh? Well, here's one!
31. I'M SINGING SONGS THAT ARE NOT TOO WELL-KNOWN IN OUR FAMILY, but a lot of you old-fashioned Christians and Church folks will remember some of these old–timers that I used to sing a lot in church. They're good songs even if they sang'm in church! There are lots of good churches in the World that love the Lord, and Christians that love Jesus and are doing the best they can, the best they know how.
32. THAT'S ABOUT ALL THEY KNOW IS GOING TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY, so that's about all they know how to do! They haven't heard much about witnessing and telling everybody about Jesus and going out into all the World preaching the Gospel to every creature. If they'd read their Bibles better, they would've.
33. BUT I REMEMBER THIS DEAR OLD FELLA SAID THAT HE WAS NEARLY BROKE—as so often when living by faith the Lord just feeds you from day to day. He had booked this meeting on a Sunday night and somehow or another he must have gotten his dates switched or mixed up for some reason.
34. BECAUSE HE SAID HE ARRIVED AT THE CHURCH THAT NIGHT IN TIME FOR HIS SERVICE, that he was looking forward to—in more ways than one!—Serving the Lord, but also hoping they'd take up a little offering for him so that he'd have something to eat on the next day!—But the church was closed and all dark and not a soul there and he hadn't the faintest idea why!
35. AND HE FELT SO DISAPPOINTED AND SO SAD THAT HE SAT RIGHT DOWN THERE ON THE CHURCH STEPS, pulled out his old guitar and began to sing this song. He got the words right there sittin' on the church steps of that deserted old church and the missed meeting.
36. THANK GOD THERE'S GONNA BE A MEETING IN THE AIR THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO MISS ONE OF THESE DAYS! That's a song I haven't sung for years and just now thought about it. There's gonna be! And if you'll remind me about that I'll sing it after I sing this song, OK? All right? That meeting you're not going to miss, praise God! So dear old F.M. Lehman—along with his dear wife who arranged the harmony—sat down and sang this song:
37. "OH, THERE'S NO DISAPPOINTMENT IN HEAVEN,
NO WEARINESS, SORROW NOR PAIN!
No hearts that are bleeding and broken,
No song with a minor refrain;
The clouds of our Earthly horizon
Will never appear in the sky,
For all will be sunshine and gladness,
With never a sob nor a sigh!
38. "I'M BOUND FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL CITY
MY LORD HAS PREPARED FOR HIS OWN!
Where all the redeemed of all ages,
Sing glory around the White Throne!
Sometimes I grow homesick for Heaven
And the glories I there shall behold:
What a joy that will be when my Saviour I see,
In that beautiful City of Gold!
39. "WE'LL NEVER PAY RENT FOR OUR MANSION,
The taxes will never come due!
Our garments will never grow threadbare,
But always be fadeless and new.
We'll never be hungry or thirsty,
Nor languish in poverty there.
For all the rich bounties of Heaven
His sanctified children will share.
40. "I'M BOUND FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL CITY,
MY LORD HAS PREPARED FOR HIS OWN;
Where all the redeemed of all ages
Sing glory around that White Throne!
Oh, sometimes I'm homesick for Heaven,
And the glories I there shall behold:
What a joy that will be
When our Saviour we'll see,
In that beautiful City of Gold!
41. "THERE'LL NEVER BE CREPE ON THE DOORKNOB,
No funeral train in the sky;
No graves on the hillsides of Glory,
For there we shall nevermore die;
The old will be young there forever,
Transformed in a moment of time;
Immortal we'll stand in His likeness,
The stars and the sun to outshine!
42. "OH, SOMETIMES I'M HOMESICK FOR HEAVEN,
AND THE GLORIES HE'S PREPARED FOR HIS OWN!
Where all the redeemed of all ages
Sing glory around that White Throne!
Oh, I'm bound for that beautiful City
The Lord has prepared for His Own,
What a joy that will be when our Saviour we see,
In that beautiful City of Gold!"
Hallelujah!
43. IT'S NOT THE KIND OF GOLD THAT WE TRY TO SAVE FOR A LITTLE RESERVE HERE, or the gold that some people are trying to save when the paper money is no good any more, this is going to be an everlasting eternal gold‚ crystal gold! Not like any gold you've seen here, but more beautiful than any gold in this World, the eternal crystal golden City that will be forever! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
44. MAYBE YOU'LL NOTICE SOMETIMES I SING THE SONGS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT EACH TIME I SING THEM! Ha! That kind of really sort of gets some folks puzzled and mixed up a bit, particularly our poor pure, poor musicians! Ha! Pure musicians they are too, they sing and play the most pure music that I've ever heard, PTL! But our poor musicians—they're pretty poor too, they don't make much money! In fact, they don't make any! Just their expenses, that's all they get!
45. BUT GOD BLESS'M, THEY'RE SINGING FOR JESUS NOW AND THAT'S THE BEST PAY THERE IS! PRAISE THE LORD? And the reward they get from you is your thanks and your thanksgiving‚ even in your tithes and offerings to help them sing. PTL! And most of all, they get the knowledge that their songs about Jesus and His Love, God's Love, are going out throughout all the World over stations Worldwide to millions of people, cheering them up, giving them joy and love and hope and gladness and happiness in Jesus! PRAISE THE LORD?
46. BUT I OFTEN CHANGE THE WORDS‚ IF YOU'VE NOTICED! I often kind of switch them around a little bit according to how I feel and whatever mood I happen to be in. And sometimes just because I plain forgot! So I just make up the words as I go along. So if they sound a little funny to you, well, it's one reason or the other! Sometimes I forget'm and I just make up some new ones. I figure if the Lord let me forget'm, He must want me to make up some new ones, so I just sing along and sing something different! PTL! Hallelujah?
47. SO IF I DON'T SING THEM JUST LIKE THEY'RE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OR IN THE MUSIC, FORGIVE ME! It's because I just feel inspired to sing'm otherwise. PTL! But you might have a little hard time keeping up with the words we print and send out when you find that I don't sing'm just exactly that way every time! Well, that's dear old F.M. Lehman's beautiful old song about not being disappointed in Heaven!
48. OH YES! THERE'S ONE MEETING YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MISS! The church isn't going to be all dark and the people not there or they've forgotten the date—all the Christians are going to be there. I don't even know if I can remember it but here I go, I'm going to give it a try! (Sings:)
49. "OH‚ THERE'S GOING TO BE A MEETING, A MEETING IN THE AIR‚
IN THE SWEET SWEET BY AND BY!
And I'm gonna meet you, meet you over there in our Home beyond the sky!
Such singing you will hear never heard by mortal ear,
'twill be glorious I do declare!
For God's Own Son will be the leading One at that meeting in the air!
50. "OH, THERE'S GOING TO BE A MEETING IN THE AIR,
IN THE SWEET SWEET BY AND BY!
And I'm going to meet you, meet you over there in that Home beyond the sky!
Such singing you will hear never heard by mortal ear,
'twill be glorious I do declare!
And God's Own Son will be the leading One at that meeting in the air!"
Hallelujah!
51. THAT'S AN OLD SONG I DIDN'T HAVE ON THE LIST! Ha! Well, praise God, I just thought about poor old F.M. Lehman missing his meeting. That's a meeting we won't miss‚ when we go to be with Jesus and meet Him in the air! Praise God! And here's a song that's very fitting to that subject of Jesus' coming and our meeting in the air!
52. IT'S WRITTEN TO THE BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL HAWAIIAN CLASSICAL MELODY "ALOHA OE".—By a missionary who went in the early days to Hawaii over there to tell those beautiful Polynesian–Melanesian wonderful people about Jesus, so beautiful and so sweet and so peaceful! Their very music shows what kind of people they are. It's so beautiful, so sweet, so soft, so melodious, so bright and happy and hopeful, that we've chosen it as one of our theme songs on our "Garden of Eden" Series.
53. AND TONIGHT YOU HEARD ONE OF MY FAVOURITES and very fitting for this Heavenly series—about "Sweet Leilani, Heavenly Flower!"—about you and about these lovely flowers that you've seen on our programmes. It's a love song, a beautiful song, one of these Hawaiian songs or South Sea Island songs of the Pacific of the Melanesians and Polynesians.
54. AND THIS ONE COMES FROM WHAT IS VIRTUALLY THE NATIONAL SONG OF HAWAII: "ALOHA OE". And I believe that means farewell, doesn't it? It's a greeting that means both "hello" or "farewell". They sing it to you when you come and they sing it to you when you leave! Well, the words I'm gonna sing you tonight are not the old "Aloha Oe" words‚ the Hawaiian words, because I can't sing in Hawaiian. But I'm going to sing you about when Jesus comes and we leave! PTL! Hallelujah? So this song is about coming and leaving both, very fittingly written to the tune of "Aloha Oe," praise God! (Sings:)
55. "IN THESE, THE CLOSING DAYS OF TIME,
What joyous hope that glory affords,
That soon, O wondrous truth sublime!
He shall reign, King of kings and Lord of lords!
For He's coming soon,
He coming very soon;
With joy we'll welcome the returning of the Lord!
It may be night,
It may be morn or noon,
But we know He's coming soon.
56. "AND WE WHO LIVING YET REMAIN,
CAUGHT UP, SHALL MEET OUR FAITHFUL LORD!
This hope we cherish not in vain,
But we comfort one another with these words.
He's coming soon,
He's coming very soon;
With joy we'll welcome the returning of the Lord!
It may be morn,
It may be night or noon,
We know He's coming soon, yes‚ very soon!"
57. THERE'S A LOT OF HARMONY AND MELODY IN THAT‚ THAT SOME OF YOU CAN SING! In fact‚ I noticed that on one of those old songs, I was so used to singing the harmony that I went off into the harmony on the chorus for a little while‚ but the next time around I hit the melody for you. So now you know both the harmony and the melody! So if I get things turned around a little bit backwards, upside–down or forward or whatever, we always wind up right in the end at least‚ TTL!
58. MAYBE WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN YOU'LL THINK THINGS LOOK A LITTLE BIT UPSIDE–DOWN because you're so used to looking at things upside-down in this World, when up there really everything's rightside-up! PTL! Hallelujah? This is the upside-down, backwards, inside-out World that we're living in today. That'll be the rightside-up, frontwards and outside-in, or I guess we should say the inside-out World of Tomorrow! PTL!
59. THERE ARE MORE VERSES TO IT BUT I CAN'T SING'M ALL, a beautiful old Hawaiian song that I hope you learn! It reminds me of that other Hawaiian song that I sing on our Eden Series, but we haven't put it on this song series. Shall I sing it for you now? This song reminds me of it because (Sings: )
60. "WHEN JESUS COMES, THE EARTH WILL SHAKE AND HEARTS WILL QUAKE,
BE READY!
When Jesus comes, His face we'll see eternally,
Be ready!
Has your soul been filled with the fire of His Holy Ghost?
Are you saved and ready to meet the Lord of Hosts?
When Jesus comes don't hesitate, don't be too late.
Be ready!"
Hallelujah? Are you ready? If you have Jesus in your heart, you're ready, right now and anytime, whenever He comes! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL!
61. WELL, DO YOU LIKE THESE OLD SONGS? You know maybe in the final tape, or at least the audio tape, maybe this one too, I don't know, they'll cut out all this little chit-chat in-between, but I'm just sort of talking to you and telling you what's on my heart and how I feel about these old songs and about Glory, about Heaven, that Land beyond the River!
62. YOU KNOW, OFTEN THEY SPEAK OF DEATH AS THE RIVER, and in the old mythology the River Styx which you had to cross over. And yet in many death experiences of people who have died for a short time and been revived again, they've said that they did have to cross a river or a sort of a border or boundary between this life and the next. So maybe we will cross the river that way. There's an old song we used to sing that they even used to sing at the funerals: (Sings:)
63. "SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER, WHERE BRIGHT ANGEL FEET HAVE TROD?
By the crystal tide forever flowing by the Throne of God.
Yes, we will gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river.
Gather with you Saints at the river
That flows by the Throne of God!"
64. YOU KNOW, THERE'S A BEAUTIFUL RIVER THAT FLOWS RIGHT OUT OF THE THRONE OF GOD in the Heavenly City‚ right through the center of the City‚ like a park‚ with a park on both sides with grass and trees that bear 12 kinds of fruit‚ a different fruit every season.—And leaves that can heal the nations outside of the City that still need healing, still aren't quite fully saved, aren't quite what they ought to be.
65. WE STILL HAVE A JOB TO DO EVEN WHEN WE GET IN THAT HEAVENLY CITY on the New Earth and New Heaven, think of that! Outside there'll be all kinds of people that still need the Lord and healing. You just read it, it's in the Bible! We've been studying it here in our Eden series here in the Garden of Eden where it all began and talking about how we're going to arrive in Heaven in that beautiful City. (Rev.22:2 and No.1199)
66. MAYBE THE LIGHT'S SHINING SO BRIGHTLY BEHIND ME, YOU CAN'T SEE THE CITY THERE IN THE DISTANCE! But it says in the 21st and 22nd Chapters of Revelation definitely there'll be nations outside the City, kings of those nations outside the City and poor sin-sick people still outside the City who need healing and need to be healed of their sins and all their past. Praise God! Hallelujah! So there is a land beyond that river! (Sings: )
67. "THERE'S A LAND BEYOND THE RIVER,
THAT WE CALL THE SWEET FOREVER,
And we only reach that shore by faith's decree.
One by one we gain those portals"—as we pass on—
"There to dwell with His immortals,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me!"
Well, I pitched it so high, I'm almost in Heaven already! So I'm going to have to bring it down a little closer to you and me here. (Sings: )
68. "DON'T YOU HEAR THOSE BELLS NOW RINGING?
Don't you hear His angels singing?
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee!"—The final one, hallelujah!—
"In that far-off sweet forever, just beyond the shining river‚
When they ring those golden bells for you and me!"
69. I USED TO BE ABLE TO PLAY CHIMES ON THE PIANO, and I used to play this number and I thought it sounded so pretty. Maybe one of you pianists and our musicians can learn how to play chimes. If you don't know how to play chimes on the piano, maybe I can teach you! We don't stay here very long, so we can't carry a piano with us, but if I ever find a piano anywhere we land I'll play you some beautiful songs in chimes on the piano‚ because I used to play that on the piano in chimes. (Sings:)
70. "WE SHALL KNOW NO SIN NOR SORROW,
IN THAT HAVEN OF TOMORROW,
When our bark shall sail beyond that silver sea.
We shall only know His blessing of our Father's sweet caressing"— when He wipes away those tears—
"When they ring those golden bells for you and me!
Don't you hear those bells now ringing? (Weeps)
Don't you hear those angels singing?
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee!
(Coughs) Excuse me, I got all choked up just thinking about it. Jesus help me, in Jesus' name, to sing'm this song, Lord. "In that far-off sweet forever, just beyond that shining river, when they ring those golden bells for you and me!"
71. HALLELUJAH! MY OLD VOICE WON'T CRACK UP THEN! I'll be able to sing pure golden notes that'll never break any more! Hallelujah!—The way I used to sing when I was young. But anyhow, I'm tryin', because I'm afraid if I don't sing these to you now maybe you'll never hear'm, never know them‚ and they're sweet precious old songs that Christians have sung for hundreds of years, some of them, some of them not so long, but just as sweet and beautiful and wonderful and comforting.
72. THESE ARE SONGS THAT I LOVE THAT I'VE SUNG ALL MY LIFE, and my mother and father and grandmother and grandfather before me! I should say, grandmothers and grandfathers because they were all Christians‚ TTL! All Christians! On the one side‚ they were all Swedes. And on the other side they were Germans and German-Jews and French and a little bit of English. So I'm quite a mixture, like most Americans are. But praise God: (Sings: )
73. "DON'T YOU HEAR THOSE BELLS NOW RINGING?
Don't you hear those angels singing?
'Tis a glory hallelujah Jubilee!
In that far-off sweet forever‚
Just beyond that shining river,
Where they'll ring those golden bells for you and me!"
PRAISE THE LORD? Aren't you glad you're going to be there?
74. THERE'S GOING TO BE MUSIC IN HEAVEN! Oh, all kinds of music!—Orchestras, choruses, dancing, choirs of angels and us! There'll be all the wonderful beautiful things you enjoyed right here on Earth‚ including beautiful people, beautiful men and women‚ beautiful youth, even beautiful sex and love! Think of that! All the things you loved and enjoyed here on Earth you're gonna have in Heaven forever! Isn't that wonderful? Heaven is an eternal continuation of what you and I who love Jesus already have right here in our hearts. (Sings:)
75. "HEAVEN IS HERE, IS HERE, RIGHT NOW!
Heaven is here and I'll tell you how!
Jesus to know is Heaven below!
Heaven is here, is here and now!"
Well, I didn't try to hit those high heavenly notes that sometimes I do. I'm not so sure after all this weepin' I've been doin' if I can make it! But praise the Lord anyhow! Hallelujah! TYJ! You still want some more songs about Heaven? Well, I don't know‚ they might not get on a one-hour tape, but maybe you'll have to shift over to another hour and we'll continue our Heaven for another hour! Ha! Hallelujah! TYJ! Thank God it's going to continue up there forever!
76. BUT WHEN SOME PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THE COMING OF THE LORD, and some people think about the resurrection, it doesn't exactly make them very happy. I remember when my Father was preaching in a certain little church in Oklahoma, he was preaching about the coming of Jesus and Heaven and the great Judgment morning, etc. And a woman came up to him after the service and said, "Brother, please, can't you preach about something more pleasant? The very thought of all that just terrifies me!"
77. OBVIOUSLY SHE WASN'T READY TO GO! Obviously she didn't know Jesus and the Heaven that He gives us in our hearts right here and now below, the happiness we already have, the little bit of Heaven that we have right now which we'll be continuing forever over there. So the coming of Jesus for us is joy and beauty and release from all this trouble and torment and weariness and pain and sorrow and death down here. The coming of Jesus is the brightest prospect that you and I as Christians have to look forward to.
78. BUT TO THIS POOR OLD LADY WHO DIDN'T KNOW THE LORD, THE COMING OF JESUS WAS NOT A VERY HAPPY PROSPECT. She said, "The very thought of it terrifies me!" Because obviously she wasn't saved, she didn't know the Lord, she didn't have Jesus in her heart.—When all she needed to do was ask Him in and she would have been saved and ready for His coming and happy to see Him when He comes! We Christians who love Jesus are going to be so happy to see Him when He comes! PTL! Hallelujah? But some people are not going to be very happy.
79. EXCUSE ME, BUT I THINK I'VE STILL GOT A FEW TEARS IN MY NOSE! If I'm going to get this music out I'm gonna have to blow them out first. You've gotta get rid of all these obstructions that sometimes get in your way of witnessing. So Lord help me. I keep chokin' up and gettin' a few more tears up here in my belfry, and then the bell doesn't ring quite so clearly. I'm sorry. PTL! TYJ! Hallelujah! (Blows nose.)
80. WELL, IT'S KIND OF OLD HOME NIGHT HERE! This really isn't Heaven that you see here, in spite of all these Heavenly-looking flowers, it's not even a funeral parlor, the next thing to Heaven. I always thought funerals were beautiful, really.—A little bit sad sometimes, but they're so pretty and quiet with soft music and beautiful flowers. You never saw so many flowers in all your life as you see in a funeral!
81. YOU JUST WALK IN THE FRONT DOOR AND YOU SMELL THE BEAUTIFUL FRAGRANCE OF ALL THOSE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS and you see all your old friends and relatives, it's almost a little bit of Heaven!—You know?—A funeral! You get to see all those beautiful old friends and all those lovely flowers and smell that Heavenly fragrance and then hear those Heavenly songs and that Heavenly Word of God all about Heaven and Jesus! Well, it's just about the next thing to Heaven! Of course, sad to say, it's about as close to Heaven as some people are ever going to get!
82. KIND OF LIKE THE OLD LADY WHO WAS ATTENDING HER HUSBAND'S FUNERAL. The coffin was up front there and the preacher was in the pulpit preaching away and eulogising the departed one, her husband, and was giving such a beautiful obituary and just raving on and on about what a wonderful man he was. Well, actually, he'd been a pretty rotten ol' stinker of a sinner and his wife knew it.
83. SO PRETTY SOON AFTER LISTENING TO THE SERMON FOR QUITE AWHILE and hearing all these glorious praises of her husband she got a little bit puzzled! And she jumped up from her seat and she looked down into the coffin and she said, "Is that you, John?" Ha! PTL! Hallelujah!
84. SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO BE SO HAPPY TO SEE JESUS COME or the following Great Judgment of the wicked after the Millennium‚ a thousand years later when the wicked are resurrected and have to stand before God's Great White Throne Judgment.
85. SOME CHRISTIANS ARE NOT EVEN GOING TO BE SO HAPPY EVEN AFTER THEY MEET THE LORD before the Millennium at Jesus' coming for His Saints as we go to be with Him at the great and beautiful Marriage Supper of the Lamb when Jesus sits on His Judgment Throne and passes out the prizes and the surprises and the rewards!—Or in some cases, maybe no reward, and some people are going to be ashamed. Maybe that's why He's going to have to wipe away a few tears.
86. SOME ARE GOING TO BE RAISED TO EVERLASTING GLORY AND SHALL SHINE AS THE STARS, BUT SOME TO EVERLASTING SHAME AND CONTEMPT‚ even Christians in Heaven. Some are going to have to bear everlasting shame and contempt because you didn't do your job and you weren't faithful and you didn't stick and you lived selfishly. (Da.12:2.)
87. EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE SAVED AND KNEW JESUS, YOU DIDN'T TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT HIM. You didn't witness‚ you didn't give Christian literature to others who needed it. You didn't litness as we call it. You didn't go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every creature. So Christ's time of judgment, His Judgment Seat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is not going to be a very happy place for you. You're going to be thankful you're saved at all.
88. —JUST LIKE I WAS WHEN I DIED ONCE UPON A TIME AFTER I'D SAID "NO" TO GOD and disobeyed and refused to do what He told me to do. I woke up dead in bed‚ sitting half in my body and half out! The first feeling I had, I must admit, was a light, airy, wonderful, exhilarating, thrilling, ecstatic feeling! I felt like I could just float right off, and I think I could have.
89. BUT I'M SORRY TO SAY THE NEXT FEELING I HAD WAS NOT VERY GOOD! Because I looked over in the corner of the room and there stood dear old Dr. Koger looking ashamed of me‚ looking like he was about to cry, like he used to when I was a naughty boy when I was young. He was our old family physician‚ like a father to me.
90. AND SUDDENLY I WAS ASHAMED. Suddenly I was even afraid, because I knew he'd come to get me to take me to be with the Lord and to face Jesus at His Throne‚ and I really didn't want to go! I knew I was saved, I knew I loved Jesus and I knew I was headed in the right direction, especially when I saw Dr. Koger there in the corner coming to get me.
91. BECAUSE IF THERE WAS EVER A SAINT OF GOD, HE WAS A LIVING SAINT!—A constant witness to all of his patients, who led many of them to the Lord on their deathbeds and gave out verses of Scripture on his prescription blanks. He lived and suffered like a Saint all the days of his life until his last days in his 70's when he finally went to his great reward and all those patients that he'd led to the Lord on their death-beds there to welcome and receive him!
92. WHAT A GRAND HOMEGOING HE MUST HAVE HAD! Wow! Oh! I hope I get a few folks up there to welcome me, anyway. PRAISE THE LORD? Not that I hope you'll go there first, because I'm most likely to get there first. I'll be there to welcome you! PRAISE THE LORD? Hallelujah! TYJ! And it probably won't be very long, TTL!
93. BUT I WAS ASHAMED AND I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO FACE THE LORD in that, you might say backslidden, disobedient, rebellious condition when I'd just said no to the Lord and had died! You say, "Oh, that's your imagination, that was a dream!" Well, I'll tell you, it was just as real as I am sittin' here looking you in the eye tonight! You can say this isn't real either‚ this is video, television.
94. WELL, PRAISE GOD, WE'RE HERE TONIGHT AND IT'S REAL WHERE WE ARE! I don't know about where you are. I'm sure it's pretty real where you are too! I started to say this is neither Heaven nor a funeral parlor, but it's about as close to Heaven as we can get! This is our own little Family livingroom where we enjoy Family Fellowship nightly and where we've been enjoying Family Fellowship with you nightly in these nightly videos. PTL!
95. BUT SOME PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO BE SO HAPPY TO SEE JESUS, even Christians who have failed the Lord and who know they've failed the Lord and who know they won't get much of a reward over there. And especially in the resurrection of the wicked a thousand years later to face the Great White Throne Judgement of God, only to receive their punishment—and their rewards will be meted out too, all different degrees of reward. Did you know there are going to be degrees of reward, both good and evil?
96. AT THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST WE'RE GOING TO GET DEGREES OF REWARD FOR THE GOOD THINGS WE DID FOR THE LORD. We don't earn Salvation, we can't work for Salvation, it's a gift. But we can work for rewards, we can earn special praise and special commendation from the Lord!—A special, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" We can earn things like that and His praise and special rewards. He says some of you He'll make rulers over one city or a few cities, some over many cities. Some He will put you in charge of a few, some over many. "For he that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in that which is most." (Lk.16:10; 19:17.)
97. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A LOT MORE TO DO FOR THE LORD WHEN WE GET THERE, especially in His kingdom here on Earth during the Millennium. We're going to have to rule and reign with Jesus right here on Earth. Think of that! We are going to be in charge of different parts of this World!
98. WE'RE SADLY FAREWELLING THIS COUNTRY THAT WE'RE ABOUT TO LEAVE where we're making this video for you, and having to fly far far away to a far country we're never been in before that we know very little about and we don't know their people, but as a refuge to get out of the war zone, to fly far away.
99. AND WE WERE A LITTLE BIT SAD ABOUT IT, thinking about it, when the Lord spoke to our hearts and said, "I'm going to give you every foot of ground that you put your feet upon." I thought, "What do You mean by that, Lord? We're looking for the Heavenly City, we're even having to leave this country to flee to another one to get out of the war zone!"
100. AND SUDDENLY IT CAME TO ME! The Lord reminded me that we're going to go up to be with the Lord in the Rapture, the Resurrection, to be with Him for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but then we're going to come back to this Earth to win the Battle of Armageddon and conquer this World and rule and reign over it!
101. WHICH PART ARE YOU GOING TO RULE AND REIGN OVER? I was asking the Lord about that one day a long time ago. Oh my, it's been 20, 30 years ago now. "Lord, if we're gonna rule and reign on this Earth as it now is, more or less, except with the Curse removed, and we're in charge then instead of the Devil's people, and Jesus is our Leader, the great King of kings of all, and there's nothing but righteous government throughout the World and we're His officers and His policemen and His angels running the World..."
102. I THOUGHT, "NOW‚ IF WE'RE GOING TO RUN THIS WORLD‚ I MIGHT AS WELL TELL THE LORD WHICH PART I'D LIKE TO RUN!" Have you picked out your favourite spot, the part you'd like to run?—The part you'd like to govern?—The city or cities that you'd like to govern‚ or maybe the state you'd like to govern? You're going to be His kings and princes and priests of God, governors, rulers! What part of this World would you like to govern?
103. WELL, THE CHOICE MAY NOT BE ENTIRELY UP TO YOU, but within reason, God will probably give you the part.... You want me to make a good guess what part God's going to give you? It just came to me the other day just when I was praying about having to leave here and the Lord said, 'Every foot of ground you put your foot on I'm going to give it to you."
104. I SAID‚ "YOU MEAN THE PLACES WE'VE ALREADY BEEN, LORD?—Where we've actually put our natural physical feet on that ground‚ the places we've enjoyed before, the places we've liked? You mean, I can come back to this farm again someday and enjoy it?" For sure! Of course! It'll still be here! God willing! That is if the atomic war doesn't destroy it.
105. I BELIEVE THE LORD'S EVEN ABLE TO PROTECT SOME OF THESE PLACES. And when we come back in the Battle of Armageddon God's going to sweep away all that atomic debris and all of that atomic fallout radiation poisoning and all the rest and He's gonna remove the Curse from this Earth and clean up the World and we're gonna help Him! I believe it!—Along with His angels. So I think He's going to let us come back to some of the places where we've been and we've enjoyed.
106. WE CAN TAKE A TRIP BACK TO THOSE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS OF SWITZERLAND THAT WE LOVED! We can walk along that beautiful Cote d'Azur of France that both I and my Mother loved so much, the beauties of God's Creation! You see a lot of gorgeous beauties of His creation lying out on the beach there too!—Uncovered, unadorned, just beautiful as they are! Hallelujah! Thank God for the beauties of God's creation!
107. AS YOU'VE SEEN IN OUR EDEN'S SERIES, WE BELIEVE THAT GOD CREATED US TO BE BEAUTIFUL, and that nudity is beautiful, or can be beautiful‚ and sex is beautiful! PTL! A gift of God! Something we'll enjoy now and for Eternity. TTL! All the beautiful things we enjoy now we're going to enjoy there, and we're going to enjoy here on this Earth during the Millennium.
108. FOR A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER JESUS COMES, after the Battle of Armageddon and we conquer the World‚ we're going to enjoy it right here on this Earth, all these things we enjoy now.—Only a lot more and better, 'cause we'll have supernatural, super-human, super-duper bodies‚ resurrection bodies, miraculous bodies that'll no longer ever get tired any more. Or as the Bible says, "None shall say I am sick.—And neither shall anyone say 'know the Lord', for all shall know Him!" We won't have to witness any more. PRAISE THE LORD? (Jer.31:34; He.8:11.)
109. LATER ON WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO HELP SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT DIDN'T GET SAVED, BUT OUR BIGGEST JOB IS GOING TO BE TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING ORGANISED! The Lord has even shown us how the villages and the cities are going to be organised, beautiful! And there's still going to be villages and some cities, maybe not all destroyed, but probably going to be new cities of God's making and the kind that the Lord wants. Not these horrible cesspools of iniquity, festering sores on the body politic of today!
110. SO I WAS THINKING, "WELL, TYL, IN THE MILLENNIUM WE'LL BE ABLE TO COME BACK AND VISIT ALL THESE PLACES THAT WE KNEW AND LOVED!" It's still going to be the same World, same beautiful trees and grass and all. Well, for awhile some of it's going to be burned up, but it'll grow again. TTL! God'll make it grow again. In some places it won't be burned up. Two-thirds of the World will not be burned up. Only a third of the tress and green grass etc. are going to be burned up according to Revelation. (Rev. 8 and 9.)
111. SO THANK GOD, THERE'S STILL GONNA BE SOME BEAUTIES OF GOD'S CREATION ALL OVER THE WORLD. And even the parts that were destroyed in the atomic war and the Battle of Armageddon, I'm sure God's gonna help us clean up and restore and try to get things going again. Either that or we'll leave'm as a perpetual memorial and monument to the horrors of man and his wickedness and his destructive nature! Maybe we'll all have to live in the Southern Hemisphere then, if the Northern Hemisphere is destroyed.
112. I DON'T KNOW JUST EXACTLY WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE, but I know it's going to be better than it is today, a beautiful heavenly Heaven on Earth without sin, without wickedness, without all the trouble.—And without weariness, pain, sickness and problems. We're gonna have wonderful new bodies, new models, and be able to enjoy this World to the full as we never enjoyed it before. Well‚ we've enjoyed it quite a bit‚ but more than ever before! Praise God!
113. SO HAVE YOU PUT IN YOUR ORDER? Have you asked the Lord for the territory you would like to live in and therefore rule over? After all, the Lord's gonna need a lot of help and a lot of helpers and it's going to take every one of us, the Saints of today and the Saints of bygone days, the Saints of all generations! Even if there are a billion of them, it's gonna take'm all to help rule the World and run this Earth again!
114. AND WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO HAVE, I THINK, SOME OF OUR CHOICES!—Maybe travel around a bit and visit all the old haunts and the places we enjoyed. I used to ask the Lord for Miami, Florida and Miami Beach because to me that was the most beautiful place on Earth, tropical paradise! I'd never seen anything further than the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba, so Miami to me was the most beautiful place.
115. A LITTLE LATER I SAW CUBA AND THAT WAS EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL, and they tell me that Puerto Rico and the islands of the Caribbean are gorgeous paradises, island paradises on Earth! So maybe some of you are there‚ maybe some of you will want to go there. Well, maybe you can during the Millennium. But God's going to need a lot of help to rule this Earth. And you know what I think He's going to give you?
116. IT KIND OF REMINDS ME OF THAT STORY WE TOLD ABOUT THE RICH OLD LADY AND HER WASHERWOMAN. Remember that one? The rich old lady died, she was saved, she knew the Lord, but she had lived for her riches and her own selfish interests and family and her mansion on Earth, and her money etc.—Been too busy making money to really serve the Lord. She'd given a little bit to the missionaries and a little bit to the church, a little bit to the preacher and evangelist‚ but not very much.
117. SO ONE DAY SHE FINALLY DIED AND WENT TO BE IN HEAVEN, SO THE STORY GOES, AND IT WAS SAID THAT SAINT PETER MET HER AT THE GATE. Well‚ he doesn't have to meet you at the gate, he may be too busy to meet you at the gate. I'm sure the Lord will have plenty of folks there to usher you in. Every time I've gone it's been my relatives and friends that have gone on to be with the Lord who met me. I never met Peter, so I don't know him very well.
118. I MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT TIMID ABOUT MEETING SUCH A GREAT APOSTLE AS THE APOSTLE PETER FIRST THING! Realising what a wonderful job he did for the Lord, how he gave his life for the Lord, I might be even a little ashamed to face him. But most of my relatives‚ I wouldn't be too ashamed to face them! And I know my Mother and my Daddy will love me and my grandmother and grandparents will love me, and I know they're working for me right now and praying for me. PTL! So I found every time I've gone there it's been my relatives and old friends and old Saints of the Lord that I already know that I usually meet there and the Lord sends to greet me. TTL!
119. WELL, THIS OLD LADY, SHE GOT THERE AND THERE WASN'T HARDLY ANYBODY THERE TO MEET HER EXCEPT ONE ANGEL who was sort of the doorman who was to lead her to her residence. And as they walked down the beautiful golden street of that Crystal City past these gorgeous mansions, this one and that one and the other, she would ask him, "Whose is that and whose is that?" And he'd name different people that she didn't know.
120. BUT BY AND BY THEY CAME TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MANSION‚ A GORGEOUS MANSION, AND SHE THOUGHT SURELY IT MUST BE HERS! And she said, "And whose is that?" And he said, "Well, this is your washerwoman's mansion because she really loved the Lord! And even though you didn't pay her very much, she tithed and gave what few little pennies, nickels and dimes and coins that she could to the church, to the preacher, to the missionaries, to the evangelists, and she really tried to help support God's work."
121. LIKE OLD SOPHIE THE WASHERWOMAN who was bragging one day to a lady that she met on a streetcar that knew her‚ knew she was a "PTL! Hallelujah!" dear old-fashioned Christian. And she was always praising the Lord although she had to work so hard doing so many washings.
122. AND SHE SAID, "YOU KNOW WHERE I'VE BEEN THIS WEEK? I've been to China, I've been to India, I've been to the South Sea Islands, all those places this past week and this past month or this past year." And the lady looked at her a little odd, knowing that she never even left town, she was so poor, she couldn't hardly even afford to ride the streetcar! This happened is San Francisco, as I recall.
123. SHE SAID, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SOPHIE? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN OUT OF SAN FRANCISCO!" And Sophie said‚ "Oh yes I have! You know the money I earn for washing clothes? That money is me! It's my blood, sweat and tears and toil! It's a part of my strength, it's a part of me and I gave it to the missionaries and the evangelists and the preacher and the church and it has gone out all over the World preachin' the Gospel with them wherever they went!—India‚ China‚ South Seas, South America! So I've been to all those places!" PTL!
124. WELL, THIS POOR OLD RICH LADY, SHE HADN'T SENT UP MUCH IN THE WAY OF GIFTS FOR THE LORD'S WORK. She'd lived pretty selfishly. But the angel said, "Oh, that's your washerwoman's mansion because she was good old Sophie‚ she'd given a lot to the Lord and really served the Lord the best she could."
125. WELL‚ THEY FINALLY WALKED ON AND ON AND LOWER AND LOWER DOWN, CLEAR DOWN TO THE BASEMENT of the great City into a poorer and poorer section, and the mansions got poorer all the time. Till finally they came to nothing but a little sort of a grass shack made out of this and that and odds and ends and cardboard and pieces of tin etc. And the old lady looked at it and said, "What's this?" He said, "Oh‚ this is your home." She said‚ "What do you mean my home? This little shanty, this shack? I couldn't possibly live in a little thing like that! Why, I had a gorgeous palatial mansion on the Earth!"
126. THE ANGEL SAID, "THAT'S JUST THE TROUBLE, YOU SPENT IT ALL ON YOURSELF. You lived for yourself selfishly and you didn't send us very much up here. You didn't send us very much in the way of good works for the Lord, gifts for His work, support for His missionaries. You didn't send us very much material to build your mansion with and this is all there was. This is the best we could do with what you sent." And the poor old rich lady who had been rich was now very poor and was going to have to live like her washerwoman lived. I guess she could just be thankful she was saved and in Heaven at all.
127. BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE VERY ASHAMED, GOD'S WORD SAYS, RAISED "TO EVERLASTING SHAME AND CONTEMPT."—Christians‚ the saved, people who love the Lord but not very much, sad to say. So it's not going to be a very happy meeting for some people. Some people aren't going to really enjoy it too much when they first go to meet the Lord. And I'll tell you one set of people who aren't going to enjoy it at all, and that's the wicked dead when they're resurrected after the Millennium to face the Great White Judgement Throne of God. Well, that's what it sounds like this song is about: (Sings:)
128. "I DREAMED THAT THE GREAT JUDGEMENT MORNING HAD DAWNED,
AND THE TRUMPET HAD BLOWN;
I dreamed that the nations had gathered to judgement before His White Throne;
From the Throne came a bright shining angel and stood on the land and the sea,
And swore with his hand raised to Heaven, that time was no longer to be!
And oh, what a weeping and wailing,
When the lost were told of their fate;
They cried for the rocks and the mountains,
They cried, but their prayers were too late!
129. "THE RICHMAN WAS THERE, BUT HIS MONEY HAD MELTED AND VANISHED AWAY;
A pauper he stood in God's judgement, his debts were now too heavy to pay;
The great man was there, but his greatness, when death came, was left far behind!
The angel that opened the records, not a trace of his greatness could find.
And oh, what a weeping and wailing, as the lost were told of their fate;
They cried for the rocks and mountains, they prayed, but their prayers were too late!
130. "THE MORAL MAN CAME TO THE JUDGEMENT, BUT HIS SELF-RIGHTEOUS RAGS WOULD NOT DO;
The men who had crucified Jesus had passed off as moral men, too."—You know who they were, they still are!—
"The soul that had put off salvation, 'Not tonight‚ I'll get saved by and by.
No time then to think of religion!' At last he had found time to die!
And oh‚ what a weeping and wailing, when you lost will be told of your fate!
You'll cry for the rocks and the mountains, you'll pray‚ but your prayer will be too late!
You'll cry for the rocks and the mountains!"— to fall on you! —
"You'll pray, but your prayer'll be too late!"
Don't hesitate‚ don't be too late‚ take Jesus now to be in your heart! PRAISE THE LORD? Hallelujah? TYJ! PTL!
131. WELL, TYL! THEY'VE GOT ME WIRED FOR SOUND‚ YOU KNOW‚ and I think maybe it's because I've been gettin' so excited, I've been moving around a lot tonight and they say that my mike's been kind of rubbin', makin' a little shhhtchh, shhtchh, shhtchh! Well, Hallelujah! You can dance to that!
132. ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE THIS LIFE, WHICH WAY ARE YOU GOING TO GO? Me, when I go, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to go before Jesus comes‚ the Lord told me that, and not at the coming of the Lord like most of you young folks who are still going to be here with your children serving the Lord, witnessing, litnessing, being mighty prophets of God and prophetesses of God and little prophets of God warning the World of their judgement and of their wickedness, and prophesying the soon-coming of the Lord.—God protecting you by mighty miracles, signs and wonders and mighty monsters that attack the forces of the Devil! The Lord's own monsters attacking the Devil and his forces and our enemies! Think of that!
133. THOSE MONSTERS IN REVELATION AND IN DANIEL THAT YOU READ ABOUT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THEM OR BE AFRAID OF THEM. They're in a way our monsters! They're going to be our protectors, our watchdogs, our giant monsters going around gobbling up the wicked that try to annoy us, and defending us from the evil people and our persecutors and tormentors and our enemies. Thank God for those monsters of Revelation, they're there to defend you!
134. AND THOSE OF YOU SAVED WHO LIVE ON THROUGH THE TRIBULATION TO THE COMING OF THE LORD are going to be marvellously protected by the Lord to finish your testimony to the very End. TYJ! But those older ones like me and maybe even a few of you young ones who might go to be with the Lord before then for some reason, we're just gonna (Sings:)
135. "STEAL AWAY, STEAL AWAY,
STEAL AWAY TO JESUS!
Steal away, steal away Home!
I ain't got long to stay here.
My Lord calls me,
He calls me by the thunder,
The trumpet sounds down in my soul!
I ain't got long to stay here.
Steal away‚ I'm gonna steal away,
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away Home!
I ain't got long to stay here.
136. "GREEN TREES A-BENDING AND SINNERS STAND A-TREMBLING,
The trumpet sounds already in my soul!
I ain't got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away Home,
I ain't got long to stay here!
Tombstones a-bursting, poor sinners stand a-trembling.
The trumpet sounds down into their soul!
You ain't got long to stay here!"
—No matter how soon it comes‚ for them it'll seem too soon!—Steal away, then you'll steal away, will it be to Jesus? Steal away, will you steal away Home? You ain't got long to stay here.
137. "MY LORD HE CALLS ME‚ HE CALLS ME BY THE THUNDER!
The trumpet sounds down into my soul! I ain't got long to stay here.
I'm gonna steal away, steal away, to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away Home!
I ain't got long to stay here!"
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
138. I HOPE I LOOK THAT HAPPY AND THAT PEACEFUL IN MY COFFIN! I was trying to look like I hope to look in my casket. This is the way they arrange you, you know, like this, and your eyes shut and they try to make you smile and your arms crossed on you bosom, sing of the cross. And I want not too expensive a Bible—at least for the funeral‚ you can take it out of my hand afterward—but I want to have a Bible in my hand‚ a symbol of my hope, the Word of the Lord! (Sings: )
139. "FOR MY HOPE IS BUILT NOTHING LESS
THAN JESUS' BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS!
I dare not trust in the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand‚
All other ground is sinking sand!
All other ground is sinking sand!"
My hope's built on Jesus and His Word, and I want that to be a testimony at my funeral when I die.
140. I'VE ASKED THE LORD FOR A PEACEFUL DEATH WITH MY FAMILY, and I've asked you folks to make that funeral the happiest meeting you every had!—Praising the Lord, shouting Hallelujah, singing songs about Heaven and Salvation and Jesus and a testimony to the sinners and the funeral directors and the lost and the World!
141. THEY'RE GONNA STAND WITH OPEN MOUTHS AND OPEN EYES as they did at the funeral of my uncle that I conducted that went to be with the Lord! And my Mother and my Father, I conducted all of their funerals! We made them one shoutin' hallelujah time, praising the Lord and singing songs about Heaven and talking about Jesus and reading the Bible and praising the Lord!
142. WHY SHOULD WE HAVE BEEN SAD? WE WERE LIKE THE DEAR OLD IRISH AT THE OLD IRISH WAKE! We almost had a dance! And if I knew what I know now, I would've had a dance! Then all my churchy and blue-nosed narrow-minded relatives‚ ultra-conservatives, would've really been shocked! Well, I've blown 'em all away by this time anyhow. At least those still living. Except my dear brother and sister, God bless'm, they finally believe in me and the Lord. They've always believed in the Lord but they finally believe maybe I'm not so bad after all, I'm having good results and "by their fruits ye shall know them!"
143. "SO DEAR OLD DAVE MUST NOT BE SO BAD AFTER ALL! Maybe he's on the right track to win all those funny people and those hippies and drugsters and criminals and dope addicts and Jews to the Lord with all of his funny ways and methods, so revolutionary and radical and extreme and fanatical, but it's doing the trick, doing the work!" Amen?
144. YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE IF I HADN'T BEEN THAT WAY, RIGHT? You wouldn't have listened to me for a minute, because you wouldn't have gone to church to hear me. But when I came out on your streets and preached to you right there on the street corner and told you about the Love of Jesus, when I came into your hippie club and talked to you about the Lord and His Word, then you listened. Praise God! 'Cause I looked like you, I dressed look you, I was as much of a freak as you are‚ a Jesus Freak! Praise God!
145. AND THEN YOU WERE WILLING TO COME AND LISTEN TO THE GOSPEL in that old Club there for hippies or on that street corner—although you'd never darken the door of a church, you were afraid the roof was going to fall in on you! But you listened to us because we came down like Jesus did to your level. He came down from glory. There's an old song we used to sing about that, about "Out of His Ivory Palaces": (Sings: )
146. "OUT OF HIS IVORY PALACES, INTO MY WORLD OF WOE,
My only Lord and Saviour came to win my heart with His Love."
Well, those might not be the same old words but that's the point. Jesus came down and took on the comical form of man, like a clown almost, as pictured in that famous "Parable" movie where the clown symbolized Christ. Some people used to criticise it, conservative churchy people didn't like it and said it was sacrilegious, it's blasphemous‚ portraying Jesus as a clown!
147. AND YET THIS CLOWN WENT ABOUT EVERYWHERE DOING GOOD, helping people, loving children, healing heartaches‚ strengthening tired bodies, saving people in the circus of this World. And this World certainly must look a circus to God! And it certainly must have seemed so to Jesus, coming from the ivory places of His Father's Heaven into human flesh in this wild and woolly World!
148. HE MUST HAVE ALMOST FELT LIKE A CLOWN IN THAT UNFAMILIAR HUMAN FLESH, the human clown attire that we wear today.—Wearing human clothing which must have seemed almost foolish to Him, like a clown's costume, like the costumes in our skits.—The clothing of human flesh.
149. HOW DIFFERENT, HOW STRANGE IT MUST HAVE BEEN TO HIM COMING DOWN FROM PALACES OF LIGHT AND GOLD and beautiful precious stones, arrayed there only in power and great glory, robes of light such as you have never seen, I've only seen in vision and dreams! The most beautiful, scintillating gowns, white glowing gowns of light that don't completely conceal the beauty of the human form, but even accentuate it and reveal it‚ our new beautiful bodies that'll be even more beautiful! Praise God!
150. YOU WANT TO SEE THE LATEST STYLES, GIRLS? —TAKE A SPIRIT TRIP TO HEAVEN! Hallelujah! And you'll see the styles that are so late that they haven't even arrived yet, not down here! God's couturiers of Heaven have not brought'm on display here yet! But He'll give you a little glimpse if you want to take a trip to Space City in your dreams or in the Spirit, and you can see some of those gorgeous new styles you're going to wear up there! Beautiful! The most beautiful dresses you ever wore! The most revealing too! Whew! Gorgeous! Beautiful! TYJ! Hallelujah! Wonderful! Well, that's the way it's gonna be! Oh my goodness, where was I, anyhow? What was I talking about? Ha! Hallelujah!
151. OUT OF HIS IVORY PALACES, IT MUST HAVE SEEMED FOOLISH TO JESUS TO WEAR THE FOOLISH GARMENTS OF THIS LIFE. He must have sometimes felt like a clown for sure. But (Sings: )
"Out of those ivory palaces into our World of woe.
My only Lord and Saviour came‚ that's why He loved me so."
Well, dear Maria's waving at me over here that she's got the words. Hold them up and I'll sing the right words this time. Although I think my words weren't too bad. (Sings:)
152. "OUT OF HIS IVORY PALACES, INTO THIS WORLD OF WOE,
ONLY HIS GREAT ETERNAL LOVE MADE MY SAVIOUR GO!"
—Down to the Earth to live here with you and me to save us. Praise God! TYJ! Hallelujah! So you're going to steal away one of these days, and I trust if you've been faithful serving the Lord it's going to be one of those ivory palaces over there! Thank the Lord! Well, I've only got a few more songs here to sing you about Heaven‚ you want me to sing you a few more? Huh? (Sings:)
153. "OFT TIMES THE DAY SEEMS LONG, OUR TRIALS HARD TO BEAR;
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear, to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over, in God's eternal day!
It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus;
Life's trials will seem so small, when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ!"
Hallelujah! Isn't that a good one? PTL!
154. GOTTA MOVE ALONG TO HEAVEN HERE, OR I'LL GET THERE BEFORE I FINISH THESE SONGS! I sang you this one before, my Mothers' old favourite, and you know what today is? Tomorrow is my Mother's birthday! So Mom, here on the eve of your birthday you one of your old favourites. And then, Mom, I'm gonna sing to you, tomorrow night, God willing, a song about you, some songs about my Mother. Won't that be nice on her birthday? How about that? OK? I'll sing you some of her favourite songs tomorrow night, God willing. (Sings: )
155. "I WILL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING‚
I WILL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING,
JUST INSIDE THE EASTERN GATE OVER THERE!
I will meet you in the morning‚
I will meet you in the morning,
Just inside the Eastern Gate over there!"
I don't know why my Mother loved the Eastern Gate so much, except she loved to see the sunrise! She loved to see it rise over those California mountains, so beautiful, and then she loved to watch it set in that California sea. So maybe that's why she liked the Eastern gate. She wants a little cottage somewhere near the Eastern gate looking out over that Eastern wall to watch the sun rise!
156. YOU'LL STILL BE ABLE TO SEE OUT OF THE CITY, DID YOU KNOW THAT? It's transparent, like transparent gold! Beautiful crystal gold! And you'll be able to see out on the beautiful Earth below and all God's wonderful beautiful creation‚ the hills‚ the trees, the flowers‚ the grass‚ the rivers, the streams, the lakes, the farms and the little cottages and homes of the poor people who didn't make it through the gate, because they didn't get saved in time, but who can be thankful they're there in the New Earth at all outside the new Heavenly City.
157. AND YOU DON'T NEED ANY LIGHT INSIDE THE HEAVENLY CITY BECAUSE THE LORD IS THE LIGHT THEREOF and it's light all night because you never have to go to bed, you never have to sleep‚ you never get tired. You don't even have to eat, but you can if you want to. You don't have to lie down and rest, but you can if you want to. You don't have to have sex any more, but you can if you want to! You don't have to walk around any more, but you can if you want to! And you'll be able to do a lot of things you'll want to do that you can't do now. You're gonna be able to fly, appear, disappear, walk through walls, all kinds of things like that! Wonderful!
158. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE OUT THROUGH THOSE TRANSPARENT WALLS, out onto a beautiful flowery Earth with flowers like this, see the beautiful New Earth from the New Heaven, with a new atmospheric heavens, a new Earth's surface, the other one all burned up and destroyed! God will have purified the Earth with all the beautiful restored new Creation, and you're gonna be able to look out there and see that beautiful Creation!
159. AND IF YOU'RE NEAR THE TOP OF THE CITY, THE PEAK OF THAT PYRAMID IS 1500 MILES HIGH!—Think if that! A City 1500 miles wide, 1500 miles long and 1500 miles high! And when that City comes to settle down here on Earth somewhere, it'll probably sit out where the seas once were, because there'll be no more seas! The Lord wouldn't want it to settle down over some country and kill a lot of people, there's been enough people killed already, so it'll probably settle down where once there was a sea or seas, or maybe it'll float around, who knows?
160. THIS SPACE CITY, THIS GREATEST SPACE VEHICLE EVER CREATED, THE MOST WONDERFUL SPACESHIP EVER MADE, MADE BY THE LORD, IS ON ITS WAY HERE NOW! I've seen it! It's on its way‚ coming! If you'll read some of our Letters and see some of the pictures I had our artists draw to show you what it looks like, you'll be able to get a little idea of what that beautiful City looks like in "Space City" and other things that we've written. If you want some of those you'll have to write in and send for some of those Letters. (Nos. 75A‚ 80,624.)
161. BUT THAT BEAUTIFUL CITY‚ EVEN IF IT SETTLES DOWN AND SITS ON SOME UNOCCUPIED PART OF THE SURFACE OF THE WORLD like the Atlantic Ocean, or where Atlantis used to be, maybe it will be revived, who knows? And even if you get up in the tiptop of that Pyramid, 1500 miles high, you know how far you'll be able to see? I showed the children here the other night with a globe, and I made a little pyramid to scale‚ exactly the right size, the size of that great Heavenly City will be compared to this Globe‚ and it's amazing how big it is and how far you can see!
162. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE 4000 MILES! Four or five thousand miles! Think of that! You'll be able to see a quarter of the way around the World one way and almost a quarter of the way the other way. You'll be able to see almost one-third of the World from the top of that City! Think of that! Well, you'll still be able to see out through the walls too and the transparent structure of the City, to the beautiful New Earth outside‚ Creation, and you'll still be able to see the sun rise and the sun set.—Beautiful sunrises and sunsets in a new atmospheric heaven‚ probably more beautiful than the one we have now.
163. I BELIEVE THERE ARE GONNA HAVE TO BE SOME CLOUDS because there's gotta be pretty sunsets and sunrises, don't you think so? You have to have a few clouds. Not any dark clouds, but just those nice pretty white fleecy ones you see floating along in a sky of blue that make the lovely sunsets and the sunrises! Wouldn't that be beautiful?
164. SO THAT'S WHERE MY MOTHER WANTS TO BE, NEAR THE EASTERN GATE to watch those beautiful sunrises out through the golden walls of the City‚ out yonder on a beautiful New Earth from our New Heaven, from the New City, the New Jerusalem, Space City, Heaven on Earth!
165. HEAVEN, BELOVED, IS GOING TO BE ON EARTH. You didn't know that? How about that! You thought it was going to be far off in Outer Space someplace? Huh-uh! Heaven's going to be right here in Earth, God says so right in the Bible! You don't have to take my word for it, just read the 21st and 22nd Chapters of Revelation! It's right there. It says, "I John saw the Holy City coming down from God out of Heaven!" How about that?
166. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE IN HEAVEN AFTER ALL! And even God's not going to be way up off there someplace, but He says He's going to come down with it and dwell with men here on the Earth! Heaven on Earth! Heaven is going to be on Earth, a New Earth, a New Heaven and a new atmospheric heavens beautiful to behold, the most beautiful and wonderful we will have ever known, even more beautiful than the ones we have now.
167. I DON'T SEE HOW THE LORD COULD CREATE ANYTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN WHAT WE HAVE NOW, except that I had a little glimpse of it in the Heavenly City. And looking out from not up at the top—they didn't let me go all the way to the top, I don't know why—but not far from the top I was able to look out over this beautiful New Earth and it is gorgeous! Just as beautiful, only more beautiful than the one today! So praise God! It's not going to be that different that you won't recognise it or be unfamiliar with it, but even more beautiful!
168. IT'LL BE WITHOUT SIN, WITHOUT WAR‚ WITHOUT DESTRUCTION‚ WITHOUT DEATH, SICKNESS, TEARS, PAIN, all of these things we suffer today. No more wars, no more of these fast vehicles that cause so much death and destruction, no more smoke to pollute the atmosphere, no more destructive industries‚ none of these things. Everything just heavenly, beautiful and more natural‚ the way it was when God first created the Earth and the Garden of Eden! PTL!
169. SO MOM, I'LL SEE YOU THERE JUST INSIDE THE EASTERN GATE! You know why she had to say that? Because it's a pretty big place! You know, I think, of course, when I go, the Lord's going to have her there to meet me, probably just inside that Eastern gate where she wants to be!
170. BUT WHEN THE RESURRECTION AND THE RAPTURE COME OF THE WHOLE CHURCH AT ONCE, all the Christians at once at the end of the Tribulation, there's going to be millions of us suddenly going up through the air to meet Jesus and arriving in that Heavenly City, arriving there all at once, suddenly! Think of that!
171. THEY'RE JUST TELLING ME RIGHT NOW MY TIME'S ALMOST UP! Is this the end of my first, second or third hour? —Ha! I'm wearing these poor people out! This camera crew can hardly take it. I'm gettin' more inspired, the more I go along and talk and sing about Heaven the better I feel‚ the more I want to sing‚ the more I want to tell you about Heaven! It's so wonderful! I can hardly stop! While I'm on the subject and in the mood, you'd better catch it while you can! Hallelujah? Praise God! TYL! Hallelujah!
172. WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO MEET YOUR LOVED ONES? Well‚ I guess the Lord'll know right where you're coming in and which gate you're coming through and He'll have your loved ones there to meet you so that they'll be able to lead you around and show you where you're supposed to go. That is going to be one great meeting in the air and one grand arrival!
173. YOU KNOW, WE'RE GOING FAR AWAY PRETTY SOON, WAY, WAY, WAY AWAY FROM HERE! But thank God, we've got some of our loved ones already there ready to meet us‚ so that when we land they're going to meet us and greet us and lead the way to our new home! That's perfectly natural and normal, isn't it You're on an unfamiliar trip arriving in an unfamiliar place, you have loved ones there to meet you, greet you, lead the way, chauffeur you to your new mansion in the sky! Praise God? Amen? You like that idea? PTL! Hallelujah!
174. WELL, THAT'S THE WAY THE LORD MAKES IT IN HEAVEN! Whether you go now or then, He's gonna have your loved ones meet you there. Everyone who had a death experience dying momentarily for a little while, for a few minutes, some even half-an-hour, an hour or so, who've come back again from the dead, so to speak—having been dead for some time, clinically dead, doctors testified that they were dead—but suddenly they revived!—All testified this!
175. THE LORD REVIVED THEM‚ BROUGHT THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD TO TELL THEIR STORY of the wonderful things they have seen‚ the beautiful places they've been and how wonderful it was!—What a peaceful feeling they felt!—How wonderful they felt and so peaceful and so full of love and joy and happiness they didn't even want to come back! But then for some reason or other they had to come back or the Lord persuaded them to come back for the sake of others. They said it just is so beautiful!
176. I'VE BEEN THERE! I'VE SEEN IT! It's just so beautiful I can hardly even describe it. I tried to describe it to you in the Letter "Space City" and "Ultimate Trip" and a few others. We've tried to tell you a little bit about it. We've been there in the Spirit, we've been there in our dreams, so it's a beautiful beautiful place to be! So wonderful!
177. SO IT'S GOING TO BE QUITE AN ARRIVAL‚ and of course your loved ones‚ the folks you know and are familiar with and that you loved and love you, are going to meet you and lead you to your new home! Won't that be nice? We won't have to wander around for 1500 miles looking for it. We won't get lost. That's a big place to get lost in, the biggest City that was every built! There has never been a City in all time that big, 1500 miles wide and 1500 miles high!—Never ever been a city that big ever before, and that'll b the biggest City the World has ever known! Beautiful Wonderful!
178. YOU SHOULD SEE IT AT NIGHT WHEN YOU'RE OUTSIDE THE CITY LOOKING BACK WHEN IT'S NIGHT-TIME ON THE EARTH, the City is aglow with golden light! The most beautiful lighted City you ever saw in your life! You've been on a trip, perhaps, travelling through the mountains and you're coming down out of the mountains on a winding mountain road and you looked far across the valley at night to see the lighted city of your destination, and it was such a happy sight‚ you were so glad to see it!
179. THERE WAS THE END OF YOUR ROAD, the end of your trip‚ beautifully lighted, glowing against the night sky! It looked beautiful to you, the end of the road, the end of your trip, your destination! So is that Heavenly City going to look to us at the end of our road there, our destination, when we come out of the night of this World into its glorious light! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
180. WELL, HERE I GO TO PREACHIN' AGAIN INSTEAD OF SINGING! Well, we already sang that one to you "When They Ring Those Golden Bells." And my, we sang that one too‚ "The Great Judgment Morning," we're knocking these off fast now! We might even be able to get it finished before we're finished with this tape, huh? Well, here's a message, maybe we'll save that for last because that's a message for some of you people who need it. (Sings:)
181. "SOMEWHERE THE SUN IS SHINING‚
SOMEWHERE THE SONGBIRDS DWELL;
Hush, then thy sad repining,
God lives and all is well!
Somewhere, Somewhere Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!
Land of the true, where we live anew,
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!"
PTL! — TYJ!
182. MY NOSE IS ITCHIN'! I think I got a little hay fever from some of this Spring flora around here and maybe these flowers or the weeds outside. Thank God there's not going to be any hay fever in Heaven! No matter how many flowers, there's not going to be any weeds! — TYJ! PTL? Somewhere! (Sings:)
183. "SOMEWHERE THE DAY IS LONGER,
SOMEWHERE OUR TASK IS DONE;
Somewhere our hearts are stronger,
Somewhere the battle is won.
Somewhere, Somewhere Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!
A land of the true, where we'll live anew,
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!"
184. THAT BEAUTIFUL SPACE CITY RIGHT NOW FLOATING DOWN THROUGH SPACE IS JUST LIKE AN ISLAND IN SPACE floating down out of the sky, maybe going to settle down in the midst of the old seabed, like an island—where there was a sea but there is no more sea—so it will be a Beautiful Isle of Somewhere! Praise God! TYJ! Well, I can't take time to sing you all the verses, but if you want to know more of these old songs you'll have to look'm up in some old hymn books.
185. ANYHOW, WHEN I DIED I WAS SITTING THERE IN OUR LITTLE TRAILER BED—just an old bed divan that folded out at night in the living room—and my wife was sleeping quietly beside me, still alive, my dead body lying on the couch behind me and I sat up in the spirit! I had a spiritual body! It looked like this one, but I'll tell you, it didn't feel like this one! It felt light as a feather, it felt like I could float, it felt wonderful, thrilling, exhilarating, ecstatic, beautiful! And the Lord sent somebody there to meet me and he would have taken me on across the river to meet the Lord if I had been ready.
186. BOY, I'LL TELL YOU, I TOLD THE LORD IN A HURRY I'D SAY "YES" and I went back to serve the Lord and do what He told me to do. That's why I am here today still alive! The Lord let me come back to finish the job, or there never would have been a Family and there never would have been you her tonight, probably! Because there wouldn't have been me here tonight! Praise God! TYJ! He let me come back! But, (Sings:)
187. "WHEN I COME TO THAT RIVER AT THE END OF LIFE'S DAY‚
When the last winds of sorrow have blown.
There'll be somebody waiting to show me the way,
I won't have to cross Jordan alone.
I won't have to cross Jordan alone,
Jesus died for my sins to atone;
When the darkness I see‚
He'll be waiting for me‚
I won't have to cross Jordan alone.
188. "THO, THE BILLOWS OF SORROW AND TROUBLE HERE SWEEP, Christ the Saviour will care for His own. Till the end of the journey my soul He will keep and I won't have to cross Jordan alone. You won't have to cross Jordan alone, Jesus died for your sins to atone; When the darkness you see‚ He'll be waiting for thee, you won't have to cross Jordan alone!"
189. WELL, PTL! YOU WON'T HAVE TO CROSS JORDAN ALONE. I'm going to have to cross it pretty soon, but Jesus will be there and all our loved ones will be there, PTL‚ and we won't have to cross it alone. When the darkness comes here and this day comes to its end, this life comes to its final night, I will just go to sleep just for a moment‚ the twinkling of an eye‚ to wake up immediately in the light of a new day, a new dawn, the light of Heaven! PTL! Hallelujah! (Sings:)
190. "I HAVE HEARD OF A LAND OF THAT FAR AWAY STRAND,
'TIS A BEAUTIFUL HOME OF THE SOUL.
Built by Jesus on high, there we never shall die,
'tis a land where we'll never grow old!"
I'm growing old and I'm going to leave this old land, but I'm going to be new and in a New Land! "Never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old! Never grow old, never grow old, in a land where we'll never grow old!"
191. IT'S GETTING SO COLD IN HERE THAT I MIGHT SING THAT: "WHERE WE'LL NEVER GROW COLD!" And I'm afraid that my poor Maria might be getting cold because she's as cold-blooded as I am, and awhile ago it was so warm in here we turned off the heat. But I think maybe we ought to turn on a little heat now because otherwise I'm going to have to sing: "Never grow cold, never grow cold"—we ought to make that our theme song, Honey —" In a land where we'll never grow cold! Never grow cold, never grow cold, in a land where we'll never grow cold!"—Like the Tropix!
192. YOU MAY THINK THAT'S FUNNY, BUT GETTING COLD IS NO JOKE TO ME AND MARIA! We're very cold-blooded, thin-blooded‚ reared in warmer climates. I was reared in the Tropics of Florida and California and "way down South in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten" and how nice and warm it was! And I'll tell you, to live up in some of these Northern cold cities, ooooh!
193. I USED TO SHIVER JUST TO THINK ABOUT GOING UP NORTH! I used to have an actual dreadful fear of going North into the cold and the snow and the ice, because almost every time I did I'd catch cold, I'd get the flu, I had pneumonia eight times because I was a little Florida boy, California boy, a tropical bird that wasn't used to that cold far Northern climate!
194. TO ME, MY IDEA OF HELL WAS COLD ICE AND SNOW! I used to think, "Well, I wouldn't even mind Hell so much as long as it was warm! Even if it was hot, I think I could stand a lot more heat than I could cold!" But thank God, I don't have to go to either a hot or a cold Hell, but we're going to go to a place where we'll never grow old, neither will we ever get cold!
195. I THINK I'D BETTER HAVE MY SWEATER, MARIA! Come on, you can just come in and hand it to me. Nobody's going to mind that sweet little arm you see coming in here. Come on in and hand it to me! Oh, she's afraid she's going to be seen. Well, I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this sweater on here on camera or not with all my other wiring and everything, but we're going to try anyway and see what we can do! PTL! Can you still hear me? Am I still coming through? Hallelujah! OK! Then here we are, we're dressed a little bit better for, (Sings:)
196. "WHERE I ALWAYS GET COLD,
ALWAYS GET COLD,
IN EARTH'S LANDS
I ALWAYS GET COLD!"
But we're going to a land where we'll never grow old and neither get cold! TTL! Some of you folks up in those Northern icy, snowy, cold wintery lands, you'd better be moving now!—To the Southern lands where you'll never grow cold!
197. GOD DIDN'T INTEND FOR YOU TO LIVE LIKE THAT IN THOSE EXTREME COLD CONDITIONS! He made a beautiful World down South for you to live in where you don't even need clothes‚ hardly any food‚ hardly any shelter, and the natives are so friendly and hospitable and kind and so wonderful! Oh, it's really beautiful down here! I used to sing an old song and I might kind of sing a parody of it: (Sings: )
198. "OH I WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT LAND DOWN SOUTH!
I want to go back to the folks I love.
Where the friends I knew were so kind and true!
Take me back to Southern climates!—
Where the flowers bloom all over and the mountains reach the sky,
Where the fields are full of clover, till it makes you want to cry!
Oh, take be back to those tropical climates, take me back to the lands I love!
Where those natives I knew are so kind and true,
Take me back to Southern climates!"
199. WELL, THAT'D BE A PRETTY GOOD SONG TO SING FOR YOU UP YONDER! You need to get down South now to get out of the War Zone and the Fallout Zone and the Radiation Zone and the Bomb Zone and down South where it's nice and warm and you won't have to worry about fuel and oil and coal, or even hardly about wood! You can pick your food off the trees or fish it out of the seas and you can just live in a little grass shack. (Sings: )
200. "I WANT TO GO BACK TO MY LITTLE GRASS SHACK IN BEAUTIFUL HAWAII!
I want to go back to where the natives are all so good and kind.
Oh‚ take me back to that little grass shack‚
I wanna go back to my little grass shack!
I wanna go back to my little grass shack!
I wanna go back to my little grass shack in islands like Hawaii
Where the natives are so sweet and kind!"
That may not be the original words or even tune, but anyhow‚ that's not too bad, huh? It's out of my heart, I'm singing to you from my heart what I feel.
201. WELL, FOR SOME PEOPLE IT WON'T BE SO HAPPY. I'll save those songs for last, shall I? Oh, oh, my oh my! That'll be sad when we have to sing that song. So I'm going to sing you a little more happy song here first. This is an old song my Father used to sing.
202. AS YOU CAN SEE, THESE SONG SHEETS ARE PRETTY WORN OUT, have you noticed as I sing'm? They're really pretty sadly torn. But this was a beautiful song that he used to sing the melody in tenor and was joined in as a quartet altogether, beautiful beautiful harmony!—A song about Heaven! A song about when we see Jesus face-to-face. PTL! (Sings:
203. "I KNOW NOT NOW HOW SOON 'TWILL BE.
WHEN I SHALL REACH THAT VAST UNKNOWN.
I know not now, I cannot see
When I shall reach that Heavenly Home.
But alas! Alas! 'Tis better so‚
For time moves on at restless pace.
But this I know when I shall go
That I shall see Him face-to-face!—
That I shall see Him face to face,
And be with those I love once more.
Yes, I shall see Him face to face,
And be with them forevermore!"
Praise God! Hallelujah! TYL! (Sings:)
204. "THE YEARS MUST COME AND LIFE MUST GO,
THE WINTERS PASS, THE SPRING FLOWERS GLOW.
And though they come with but alloy,
'tis less of pain, and more of joy.
It matters not a few years more,
It matter not how quick the pace,
For this I know when I shall go,
That I shall see Him face to face.
Then I shall see Him face to face,
And be with you I love once more! (Weeps)
Yes, I shall see you face to face,
And be with you I love once more."
Hallelujah! TYJ! (Weeps.)
205. I'M SORRY, I COULDN'T QUITE MAKE IT. When I think about leaving you even for a little while it makes me sad. But it'll only be for a little while. Like an old song we used to sing: "It only hurts a little while, that's what they tell me, that's what they say." Did you ever hear that old one? Well, it'll only hurt a little while, PTL‚ 'cause soon you're going to join me and be with me. XXX! I love you!
206. I'M LOOKING AT MY DEAR MARIA AND THE FOLKS HERE HELPING US TONIGHT who've been with me now for so many years. Some of you have been with me for years. We've enjoyed Heaven on Earth here at home in our Heavenly home wherever it may be. It's always been Home Sweet Home wherever. It's been Heaven on Earth, Days of Heaven on Earth! Home Sweet Home! But where we always roam! Ha! Someday we're going to be there where we'll never roam.
207. I CAN'T HELP BUT SHED A FEW TEARS WHEN I THINK ABOUT EVEN LEAVING YOU FOR A LITTLE WHILE, being gone for just even a few days. They tell me there's no time there, so I guess it won't even seem like very long at all. You'll still be here living in time. It might be like a little while to you, a few days‚ weeks, years until we meet again, but I'll be nearby right at your elbow, right on your shoulder‚ angel on your shoulder whispering in your ear! Jesus will let me. And I believe He will, because He knows I love you, that you love me and you need me. So I'm going to be there. PTL!
208. I DON'T KNOW WHY I CRY ABOUT IT‚ IT'S GOING TO BE WONDERFUL, IN A WAY‚ FOR ME 'cause I'll still be with you and be able to see you and try to talk to you‚ and if you'll listen, you'll hear! PTL!—Just like Abrahim talks to me. My, he's been gone into the Spirit World since 1272‚ for 700 years or more! When people used to ask me how old I was not long after I received Abrahim—and at the first I thought I was Abrahim, that I had lived back yonder—and when they asked me how hold I was I said, "I'm 700 years old!" Ha!
209. WELL, NOW I KNOW THAT THAT WASN'T I, IT WAS ABRAHIM! Only he comes to my mind and shows me pictures of what happened then and I can hear voices of those days, see scenes of places I've never been, Bulgaria, fields of roses, the mountains, the beauties of his home country, as well as the horrors that he went through in death!—But then the greater beauties of the marvellous scenes that he now sees in Heaven and he's taken me to see. It's wonderful, really beautiful!
210. ABRAHIM, IS HERE WITH ME ALL THE TIME AND HE'S ALWAYS TALKING TO ME WHENEVER I'LL LET HIM! Of course, I talk so much, my big mouth, I hardly ever shut up! He doesn't have too much chance to talk. Except when I'm really in prayer and in the Spirit or in sex or really excited about something or praising the Lord‚ all of a sudden he just can't hold his peace any longer and he bursts forth into praise and talking in tongues, his old Romani tongue of the Gypsies, and he give me a message of praise or encouragement or blessing or a prediction of the future, something usually beautiful and encouraging!—Sometimes a rebuke, sometimes an exhortation, sometimes a remonstrance! Kind of like my older brother or my father, he sort of tries to keep me on the right track.
211. BUT HE'S ALWAYS HERE, HE NEVER LEAVES ME! He's always right here in my heart.—Always talking to me within, leading me, guiding me as my Guardian Angel from Jesus, Heaven above, that Jesus sent to be with me always, to never leave or forsake me, even to the end. I'll have his voice to direct and guide me and I'll always be able to hear him speak when I let him. and he'll always give me the wisdom and the knowledge that I need, and the love, because he is Jesus' ministering spirit that Jesus gave me, my Guardian Angel to help me. PTL!
212. WELL, NOW I GOTTA WIPE MY EYES AGAIN and sing some of these kind of sad songs, and I sort of have to wipe away the tears myself. Sometimes Maria wipes away my tears, some day Jesus is going to wipe'm away. Isn't that wonderful? PTL! TYJ! I'm sorry, but I'm still human, I still cry, I still shed tears, my nose still gets full, my throat too when this happens. So I have to kind of clear up a little bit. (Blows nose.) Excuse me.
213. WELL, AT LEAST IT'S NOT AS BAD A BLOW AS MY OLD GERMAN GOVERNESS when I was a little boy. She blew her nose like a trumpet! One time when we were traveling across the desert of the far West she was sitting in the back with my brother and sister. I always sat up front between my Mama and Daddy on a little pillow on my Daddy's typewriter between the seats, but she sat in the back with my brother and sister.
214. ALL OF A SUDDEN MY FATHER HEARD THIS BIG LOUD NOISE and he brought the car quickly to a halt, jumped outside and looked at all the tires to see which one of them it was that blew! He thought he just had a blowout! He thought a tire had blown, but it was just my dear old German governess in the back seat blowing her nose!
215. IT USED TO BE I BLEW MY NOSE SO LOUD THAT MY SISTER USED TO SAY SHE THOUGHT IT SOUNDED LIKE A FOGHORN! It used to wake her up in the morning when I was getting up for school. Well, I kind of got over that‚ TTL, and I know better how to blow my nose now so it doesn't sound like the raspberries or a Bronx cheer or a foghorn! You have to blow just one nostril at a time and not try blowin' them both at a time‚ for then it really sounds like a foghorn! So PTL! TYJ! I can get a lesson out of everything, can't I? PTL! Hallelujah!
216. WELL, I HOPE I CAN SING THESE SAD SONGS, there are a couple little sad songs I still have to sing you about Heaven and then we're all through! Isn't that wonderful? Almost done! You thought I never would end., didn't you? Like Heaven itself! Well, I've enjoyed it. Maybe it's been a little long for you. I hope you don't have to sit one whole session and hear all these songs. You know, you should just turn it on for an hour and then take off; come back and listen later to another hour.
217. BUT THIS SONG WAS WRITTEN BY A VERY DEAR PERSONAL OLD FRIEND OF OURS, DR. MITCHELL, that I've mentioned to you several times, He wrote it out for me himself in his own dear hand, the music, and the words he typed. Dear old Dr.‚ Mitchell who had been a very famous singer and choir leader. Dr. A.E. Mitchell I think his initials were, although I don't think they're on here anywhere, just Brother Mitchell.
218. HIS CHOIR WON CONTESTS, SOME KIND OF BIG FIRST PRIZE at some great sing–meet‚ etc. In Boston I think it was, until he finally met the Lord and he found his great joy in singing for Jesus, and he went on singing the rest of his life for the Lord and preaching the Gospel and being an evangelist.
219. WHEN WE FIRST FINALLY MET HIM HE WAS NEAR THE END OF HIS CAREER, near the end of his long battle for the Lord, and he was virtually retiring or already retired to a little house in Arizona. And he used to come to our little mud church and have his little family sing for us like your little families sing. Only they were beginning to grow up pretty big then.
220. AND HE NOT ONLY SANG BEAUTIFULLY‚ BUT HE ALSO COMPOSED BEAUTIFUL SONGS, and this is the song that I always remember. I didn't even know I still had it until I went through my songs and I ran across the music. Here's the music. We didn't send a copy of this music, I don't think, to MWM‚ did we? But there it is, MWM! If you want to put it on pause or hold you can copy it! OK?—Ha!
221. HERE'S THE SONG, HERE ARE THE WORDS and he himself in his own hand wrote down here at the bottom: "Words given by the Lord to Brother Mitchell. Music taken from the song 'In the Garden of my Heart.'" So that was another song. But the words that he used to sing me went like this. It was one of the prettiest, most beautiful songs I think I ever heard, yet in some ways one of the saddest.
222. HE WAS AN EVANGELIST AND HE WAS TRYING TO SPEAK TO PEOPLE'S HEARTS to give their hearts to the Lord, and this was his call to them. And this is my call to any of you out there who don't know Jesus, who don't yet have the Lord in your heart.—Those of you who have resisted Him and rejected Him for years‚ or perhaps you're even rejecting Him and resisting Him tonight.
223. YOU FEEL HIS TUG AT YOUR HEART'S DOOR, you hear His knock, you hear His voice, but you're refusing to answer the door. You're refusing to answer at all, you're refusing to open the door, you're resisting the Holy Spirit's tug at you heart, Jesus' Voice and His knock at your heart's door. You don't know what a blessing it is! It has you under conviction, uncomfortable right now, because you're torn between the two, Satan and the Lord, Hell or Heaven, selfishness or unselfish love for others and the Lord.
224. THE DEVIL IS TEMPTING YOU NOT TO ANSWER, NOT TO OPEN YOUR HEART'S DOOR and to keep on living selfishly as you please: "Do as you please! Just live for self and for money and for Worldly possessions and your own independence. You're the captain of your soul, the master of your own fate, your head is bloody but unbowed!" What a Hell of a picture of the sinner in his defiance of God! That's not a very pretty picture!
225. HOW MUCH BETTER THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF THE SAINT, THE YIELDED SINNER ON HIS KNEES saying, "Lord be merciful unto me a sinner!" I like that picture better, don't you? PTL! Well, one of these days the Lord's not going to knock any more. He says, "My spirit shall not always strive with man. For he that being oft reproved and hardeneth his neck"—stiffens your neck—"shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy!" (Genesis 6:3; Proverbs 29:1.) (Sings:)
226. "YOU'LL NEVER MISS THE SPIRIT'S VOICE UNTIL HE CALLS NO MORE!
You'll never miss the blood of Christ 'til Judgment's at your door!
You'll never miss the praises 'til woe and wrath have come!
You'll never miss the saved of Earth 'til God has called us Home."
227. GOD'S WORD HAS SAID THAT HIS SPIRIT WILL NOT ALWAYS STRIVE WITH YOU. There comes a time when you harden your heart so much that you become darkened in your understanding‚ alienated from the life of God and past feeling. (Ephesians 4:18‚19.) So hard in your heart you don't even feel like it any more!
228. YOU'D BETTER COME TONIGHT WHILE YOU FEEL LIKE IT! You'd better come tonight while the Lord's still knocking at your door! Tomorrow may be too late! This may be your last call‚ your last chance, your point of no return! You may not even have another chance. Come now! (Sings: )
229. "WE NEVER MISS THE BLESSING 'TIL OUR SOULS ARE DRY!
We never miss the burning heart 'til Jesus has passed by!
We never miss the friendship 'til love's bright glow is gone!
We never miss the fellowship 'til God's Dove has flown!
O, I would walk with Jesus along His Holy way‚
And hearken to His precious Word until the close of day.
I want to please my Master until my work is done;
And then I'll rise to meet Him and see the Holy One!
230. "O WAND'RING CHILD SO FULL OF SIN,
THE SAVIOUR LOVES YOU STILL!
He'll draw you to His bosom to do His perfect will,
He'll crown your head with glory, and fill your soul with rest‚
Unite you with God's children, the Ransomed and the Blest!
Behold He'll come in glorious power to take His Bride away,
To sit upon the throne of grace throughout Eternal Day!
Awake, the night approacheth! O hear thy Lover's call!
Behold‚ your Bridegroom cometh! Let Christ be your all in all!
231. "YOU'LL NEVER MISS THE SPIRIT'S VOICE UNTIL HE CALLS NO MORE!
You'll never miss the blood of Christ 'til judgement's at your door.
You'll never miss our praises until His wrath is come!
You'll never miss us saved of Earth until He calls us Home."
232. YOU, OUR ENEMIES WHO ARE SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING US AND WISH WE'D GO AWAY, we're going to go away one of these days soon, far far away!—Out of your reach, out of your clutches, out of your persecution, your torment, your trials‚ your tortures, your opposition, your cruelty, your death, out of your reach where you can't touch us any more!
233. FEAR NOT HIM, HE'S TOLD US, LIKE YOU, WHO AFTER YOU HAVE KILLED OUR BODY HAVE NO MORE THAT YOU CAN DO! But we fear Him who can cast both your spirit and your body into Hell. Forever, for an age! (Luke 12:4,5.) One of these days the Lord's going to take us out of your reach and you're going t be left behind and then you're going to miss us. Then you're going to miss us. That's what some of these songs say. I've sung one to you before maybe about how you'll miss us and then you'll miss Him, miss the blessing in your life! Oh be saved today while there's still a way, before it's gone forever. (Sings:)
234. "TOMORROW MAY MEAN GOOD-BY,
WE NEVER KNOW WHERE NOR WHY.
God calls us away, when life seems so gay,
Our bodies in dust must lie.
Tomorrow your soul may sigh,
For beauties you've let slip by.
O soul then prepare,
Sweet Heaven to share,
Or tomorrow will mean good-by!
Tomorrow will mean good-by,
You'll never know where nor why.
God will call us away,
When life seems so gay,
Our bodies in dust must lie.
Tomorrow your soul may sigh,
For our beauty you let slip by.
O soul now prepare,
Our sweet Heaven to share,
Or tomorrow will mean good-by!"
Forever! Good-by forever!
235. THERE USED TO BE AN OLD SONG WE SANG:
"GOOD-BY FOREVER! GOOD-BY FOREVER!
FOR FOREVER IN GLORY WE'LL BE!
Good-by forever! Good-by forever!
Good–by forever, for forever in glory we'll be!"
—Far far away from you in the Lord's bosom, a great gulf fixed between us, you far below in the heart of the Earth in the flames of Hell and your punishment whatever it may be.
236. NOT ALL PUNISHMENT MAY BE THAT SEVERE. God's Word says that, "He that hath not known His Master's will but hath done things worthy of punishment shall be beaten with few stripes. But he that knew his Master's will and yet did things worthy of punishment shall be beaten with many stripes!" (Luke 12:47,48.)
237. SO THERE WILL BE A GREAT DEAL OF VARIETY OF PUNISHMENT and a reward of the wicked‚ and a reward of the ignorant and innocent and not-so–wicked who just didn't know any better. God can't exactly save them if they didn't have Jesus or receive Him, but He's going to be easy on the ones who were good and tried to be good‚ and who even without the Law did those things which are required by His Law of Love. (Romans 2:14–16) Even without the knowledge of Him and His Love, they felt His Love in their hearts.
238. "THIS IS THE LIGHT OF WHICH LIGHTETH EVERY MAN WHO COMETH INTO THE WORLD!" (John 1:9.) Every man ever born, every man ever lived‚ God has sometime sent His Light to light his darkened heart with God's Love to show him His Love‚ to show you His Love. Many times He's shown you His Love, many times He's shown you how much He loves you.
239. HE GAVE YOU THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE, THIS WONDERFUL WORLD TO LIVE IN, this marvellous marvellous beautiful creation that we see all around here, and here. My wife even says I'm beautiful! Ha! Well, I know she's beautiful and the pretty girls you've seen on our show are beautiful. And our tropical islands, the Garden of Eden, is beautiful, and this wonderful life we live for Jesus is beautiful! But even the life that He's given you‚ He says He's sent the sunshine upon the just and the unjust, and His rain even upon the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45.)
240. EVEN YOU UNJUST WHO REALLY DON'T DESERVE HIS LOVE AND HIS MERCY, HE STILL SENDS YOU SUNSHINE almost every day, rain a few days to make the flowers grow, the beautiful trees, the grass, the skies, the clouds, the Heaven's the sun, the moon, the stars, God's wonderful beautiful Creation!—Friends, family, children, lovers, mates, sex, Love—all these wonderful things!—Pleasant sensations, good meals, good sleep, thrilling exercise, work that you enjoy, a job maybe you like. He's been good to you, given you all these things, so much love that He's shown you and given you the Light of His Love in some way.
241. EVEN JUST TO LOOK AROUND YOU AT THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATION IS TO SEE THE LOVE OF GOD! Even to look at a beautiful woman is to see God's Love for you, because He made her to love you. She is the Love of God! She is His Love! This beautiful Creation is His Love manifest‚ even His eternal Godhead manifest toward you, even in His creation, so that you are without excuse! (Romans 1:20.) Because His existence, His Love is obvious from all that He's made for you to enjoy. This physical body that enjoys life and love and sex and liberty—if you have it and can enjoy it—and meals and sleep and exercise and the joy of family and friends. All of this He's given you.
242. HAVE YOU EVER THANKED HIM? Have you ever praised Him for it? Have you ever said‚ "TYJ! Praise You Lord! Hallelujah! I thank You, Lord, for Thy blessings! I thank You, Lord for Thy wonderful creation! I TYJ‚ for making me and my loved ones and our beautiful Home here on Earth to enjoy, and this wonderful almost Heavenly life that You've given most of us! TYJ! Praise You Lord! TYJ!
243. "AND I THANK YOU MOST OF ALL FOR DYING FOR US ON THE CROSS, taking the punishment of our sins in Your Own body on the tree, suffering for us that we might be saved by Your mercy, Your grace, through faith, Thy gift of Love that we might be forgiven and enjoy Thy Eternal Salvation in that wonderful Eternal City You have gone to prepare for us that's coming down soon from You out of Heaven to this Earth!—A New Earth, a New Heaven‚ and a new life!—Heaven on Earth and happiness forever in You, Jesus! TYL! Hallelujah!"
244. HELP THESE, LORD, THAT ARE VIEWING OR LISTENING TONIGHT or today or wherever they are, help them to receive You even now in their hearts that they may be with us forever in that wonderful beautiful place we call Heaven, and enjoy these Days of Heaven on Earth that we enjoy even now in our Heavenly Homes in our Heavenly Family in You, Jesus, and in Your Love. TYJ! In Jesus' name we pray. Amen! TYL!
245. DID YOU ASK JESUS INTO YOUR HEART AS WE PRAYED? That's all you have to do‚ as we sing that little song "Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart‚ Lord Jesus! Come in today‚ come in to stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus!" Have you asked Jesus into your heart? Did you ask Him in tonight as we sang these songs and prayed these prayers and had this little fireside chat with you, talked to you about Heaven, sang to you about the glories of the life and World to come? Do you know Jesus?—"Whom to know is life eternal." (John 17:3.)
246. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HEAVEN IS? You want to know what Eternal Life is like, life in Heaven forever? You can have it right now in your own heart!—Right here, a Heaven in your heart and in your life and in your family and in your home‚ here and now, if you'll just take Jesus into your heart, into your life, into your home, and have your loves ones receive Him too. You'll have a little Heaven right here, right now, Heaven on Earth and forever!
247. THAT'S WHAT HEAVEN IS LIKE, IT'S LIKE THE LIFE WE WHO KNOW JESUS LIVE NOW, but without most of the bad things, just the good things. We enjoy a little Heaven already, we enjoy Heaven on Earth in our hearts and in our Homes and in our families and our lives. But we're still having a little trouble with that Ol' Boy called the Devil, and his crowd! They give us some problems and troubles, but not too much, TTL! He always gives us the victory.
248. WE MAY LOSE A FEW BATTLES ONCE IN AWHILE, BUT WE'RE WINNING THE WAR! Praise God! And without a battle you'll never have a victory and without a trial you'll never have triumph, with out a test you'll never have a testimony. But most of our lives are Heaven on Earth, amen? Beautiful! You just can't imagine it until you try it!
249. WHY DON'T YOU TRY JESUS? What have you got to lose?—Nothing but this filthy vile stinkin' horrible corrupted and destructive Earth that's never given you any real satisfaction, never given you anything but misery and trouble and sickness and disease and pain and aches and heartaches, hate, war and destruction! Well, maybe it has given you a few nice things you're thankful for, but so much is bad. Why not have Jesus?
250. TAKE JESUS NOW INTO YOUR HEART AND HAVE A LITTLE HEAVEN RIGHT HERE! Like the children sing that little song, maybe they can add it onto this tape: "We'll Have a Little Heaven Right Here!" How does the song go? If we just love one another and we love each other, the song they sing goes, "we'll have a little Heaven right here!" And that's what we have! (Sings:)
251. "HEAVEN IS HERE, IS HERE RIGHT NOW!
Heaven is here an and I'll tell you how!
Jesus to know is Heaven below!
Heaven is here is her and now!"
Hallelujah! TYJ! I got all the way up there that time! PTL! And I'm going to get all the way up here pretty soon! Will you? Are your ready? (Sings:)
252. "WHEN JESUS COMES,
THE EARTH WILL SHAKE
AND HEARTS WILL QUAKE,
BE READY!
When Jesus comes,
His face we'll see eternally,
Be ready!
Has your soul been filled with His fire of the Holy Ghost?
Are you saved and ready to meet the Lord of Hosts?
When Jesus comes,
Don't hesitate, don't be too late,
Be ready!"
I hope you are, I hope you will be, when Jesus comes. And I'll meet you in the morning, in Jesus' name. (Sings:)
253. "I WILL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING,
I WILL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING,
JUST INSIDE THE EASTERN GATE OVER THERE!
I will met you in the morning, I will meet you in the morning,
Just inside the Eastern gate over there!"
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen‚ amen. Well, I guess that's about it, that's about all I can tell you about Heaven. Well, I can tell you a lot more if you'll just read our Books and Letters, send for them and we'll be glad to share them with you and tell you all we know about Heaven.
254. BUT I'LL TELL YOU, YOU CAN FIND OUT ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT HEAVEN JUST BY HAVING JESUS IN YOUR HEART! Amen. Bye–bye! Good–night! GBY! I love you and Jesus loves you most of all! Please love Him. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you with Jesus and make you a blessing to others, in Jesus' name. Amen. XXX! Good-night! Good-bye‚ and I hope it's only for a little while! PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family