Herbert W Armstrong

   I've asked that question many, many times. Why don't they just do that? Just go off and forget it. But no, you will find that many take an active part in attacking the church and doing what they can to spread all kinds of things to harm God's church.

   There are those who are active, some in publishing. And there's been a lot of literature from various groups, small organizations around the place, who have, uh, published literature, deliberately secured mailing lists of our members, and especially the ministers — as if they felt that they would do greater harm there. And in fact they would, if they could, of course, uh, influence a minister to go wrong. Well, of course, uh, he would then in turn influence membership, as you very well know — can be done. Uh, and of course they would do more damage that way. But I think one way or the other, uh, I'm on the mailing list of I don't know how many little groups, and they periodically send the things to me, uh, and they immediately, of course, go into the garbage can.

   There are many who have started their own churches, uh, and call it one name or another — or it'd be the Alternative Church, or the Associated Church, or the International Church, or some other church — but it's got to have the name of God in it, uh, because at least we taught them that much. They go out and they do that, and their primary effort, it appears, is aimed toward the existing and the remaining membership of the Church of God who did not go with them.

   I just want to state what is a very simple observation: whether it be their broadcast — their broadcast very obviously aimed at the membership of God's church, not at the world. Others, perhaps not so militant and not so fervent in going against God's church or becoming one of our enemies, still like to engage you in conversation. And they can't seem to let it alone. They don't want to let it alone. But they've got to tell you all their reasons why they are not members of the church and try to convince you why you should not be a member of the church. This has happened on many occasions.

   There are perhaps many others who have in fact lost interest, have lost interest in religion, have lost interest in God, have lost interest in obeying His commandments. But the people — uh, I'm sorry — but the percentage of people who have become our enemies and who are actively engaged in working against us are abnormally high.

   I do not find people who have quit an organization — only in a rare case because they felt they had been hurt or they have been wronged in some way or another — go against that particular business or company or whatever and actively fight it, and try to undermine it, try to destroy it, try to get the other employees to leave. I just don't find it very much. I frankly don't find it very much in the world's religion.

   What I think we have here in God's church is a percentage of people who have become our enemies is abnormally high when you compare it to other groups, churches, organizations, companies, corporations, or whatever. And even these people who have lost interest nonetheless — perhaps who are not actively involved in this — still have very strong feelings. Perhaps they're not so vocal about it, but they are anti-Worldwide Church, and feelings do run very strong and very deep. Perhaps they keep them to themselves — you do have people who keep things to themselves a lot — but still nonetheless, they — they still, uh, have very, very strong and deep feelings.

   Perhaps it can be likened to some of the bitter fights you might find in a divorce court. Some of the bitter knock-down, drag-out that you find in marriages where you find two people who have exchanged the mutual vows, who have, uh, shared everything and expressed love so intimately, have wound up hating that particular person the most.

   Now, wouldn’t you think? That — that is a rather strange thing. That the one that people love the most, especially in a marriage — the one that they've been closest to, the — the — the — they've been close to that person more than any — any other person — is the one they wind up hating the most. And the one they wind up fighting and try to get everything from, especially in the divorce court. And who knows what kind of fights — knock-down, drag-out, drag-outs, abuses, verbal abuses, and — and threats and — and, uh — but that — that — that goes on before it ever comes to a separation, before it ever comes to a divorce court. It's amazing. It seems the one you're closest to, the one you wind up going against.

   Now, I don't know exactly how to explain that, but perhaps to say that maybe there are natural laws involved, where if you break some of these laws, there are horrible penalties to be paid. You cannot fall from a — a loving and a devoted relationship without doing something terrible to your mind. But that's the only way I could possibly explain it — the only way I can see a person completely reverse himself or herself and turn against the one that they love is — is that certain laws are broken. And once you break the law and fall from — and I — that's about the best way I can possibly express it — to fall from a loving and a devoted relationship to a person, or whether it be to God's church in the case of some people, you cannot do that without it doing something terrible to your mind.

   I hope we understand that. It's very important to understand that when people leave God's church, they don't just leave it. Like, "I don't want to eat in this restaurant; I think I'll go to another restaurant." It is not that way. It's deeper than that. It's more powerful than that, and it does something to the individual in a way that perhaps nothing else can.

   The idea, of course, in God's great plan and purpose is not to fall from that kind of a relationship once you have it established. You would not have entered into that kind of relationship if you would not have known something in the first place, and you destroy it through your own selfishness, through your own greed, through your own vanity and ego, or through whatever other human carnal problems that you may have, or the other individual may have. And to — to fall from that apparent relationship which — which was very devoted, with a great deal of love was involved, and in one which vows were exchanged, you cannot do that without your mind and your whole life being affected in some way or another.

   In relation to people leaving God's church, I think we can readily see what I'm talking about within a marriage. However, it does take place, and I feel it goes a long way to explain the actions of a lot of people in God's church.

   I have asked the question — I asked it many times: when people leave, why don't they just go off with themselves and just be content? Why must they turn and fight? What did we do that was so terrible? And most of them just left by themselves. Some, of course, we have put out. And so perhaps we have marked. And we have done that only after they — they have in turn turned against God's church and started to influence other members, and then we will mark them.

   But to put them out, to excommunicate them, as — as many, many churches do, there's only reasonable action against those who — who will not live up to the standards of the church, who refuse to abide by — by what — by what they agreed to in the first place, and their conduct becomes such as that — that we can no longer consider them members of the church. Then they must be disfellowshipped.

   But many people are not even disfellowshipped. Many people become what we call inactive. They just sort of drop out, and they are no longer members of the church, and still turn against it and become actively involved in spreading literature, sending tapes around, and engaging other people in conversations to try to get the members of the church to do the same thing that they did.

   II Corinthians, 11:2-4. You need to be careful — very careful — of what can happen to your mind whenever you are exposed to such a thing as this. And right here, I believe, as Paul himself explains the kind of relationship that we need to have as members of the church with Jesus Christ — and we have it with Jesus Christ, hence synonymous with the church. I think as Paul explains here, he says in verse 2 of II Corinthians 11: "For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy."

   Now, here's the kind of relationship that — that Christ has with His people, and He doesn't appreciate — He doesn't appreciate someone coming in and trying to — to get people to believe differently and to fall away. "For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds" — now we understand what it says here — "that your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ."

   Now, how obvious does Satan have to be before we recognize that Satan is not obvious? Perhaps some circumstances he may be — depends on how he chooses to work — but for the most part, it is subtle. It is so subtle that you cannot, uh, distinguish between the truth and the error. But there are subtle differences, small differences that one would not immediately recognize, that it may appear to be harmless, but nonetheless, they are there. And if a person is taken in by it, a person is not aware of it. If a person does certain things that are not correct, that are not right, then, as he says, your mind is going to be corrupted.

   Now, I've seen that happen. I've seen that happen over and over and over again. Now I've given it to you, and I would like to do that again today. Those of you who have notes, if you will, about three or four lines down, draw a line horizontally across your paper. Just draw a line.

   When we came to the knowledge of the truth, we began to do one thing first: we had — we heard and we believed. Now, if you will write the word "belief" above the line and write some of these words in ascending order. You believe first. You believe the word. You've got to. I — that rejected altogether, but for all practical purposes, we here believe.

   Number two: we then begin to have trust, but confidence in what we heard, that we believed it. Then we began to have faith. After that occurred, then once — once we went through these steps, then we obeyed. And then we began to have love through that obedience toward our neighbor and to God our Father.

   And that is the process that we went through. And that is the process that we will all go through, and we — we progress through those steps on up to a very, very high plane of obedience and love. We don't obey first; we don't have love first. We merely have to hear. When we hear, we — we believe. Then when we believe, we start to have confidence and trust, and then we have faith. And of course, immediately following that is obedience. And immediately following that is love. And it's an ascending, ascending plane that we go to.

   Let me turn over to Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 13. It doesn't list all of them here, but it does mention one or two. Ephesians 1:13: "In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."

   So here are two steps right here that Paul mentions: you believe, and you trust. Of course you do. And you demonstrate your belief through your trust. And then you demonstrate that further through faith. And then you demonstrate your faith through obedience. And in your obedience, you demonstrate — you show love.

   Now that — that is the steps that your mind goes through in ascending order once you come into the knowledge of the truth. Now Paul made a statement on several occasions: "I fear that you should fall from such" — what — "that relationship, of love, obedience, faith, confidence, and trust and belief." And you fall from that by going below the line.

   First of all, you begin to disbelieve. I'm gonna go into reasons for the disbelief a little bit later, but for all practical purposes, I just want to — I want to give to you now to help you to see how you fall below that line. You also hear, but you hear something else. And as a result of hearing, you then disbelieve. And then once you disbelieve, you suspect. And then once you suspect, you doubt. And then once you doubt, you disobey. And then once you disobey, you hate. Yes, you do. You hate!

   Now, this is why Paul said that your minds should be corrupted from a very, very high plane that you have established through belief, confidence, faith, obedience, and love, to disbelief, suspicion, doubt, disobedience, and hate.

   You see, we have to understand, we have to explain somehow the workings of the mind of those people who have left God's church, who are actively fighting against it. And this explains it. Now I can, I feel, demonstrate in the Bible this — uh, this little chart in one scripture or another that perhaps would take many. But I hope that we can imagine what occurred in the minds of Lucifer, because something did occur in his mind.

   God said, "You were perfect until the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you." God did not put it there. It did not exist in the universe. There was no iniquity; there was no sin. There was not the thought of it. The creation was perfect in — in — in — in the sense it was morally perfect. It wasn't complete in the sense of physically complete, but there was no sin. It was initiated; it was spawned in the mind of one individual. "You were perfect until the day that iniquity was found in you."

   He entertained a thought. He not only had the thought, but he entertained the thought — a harmless thought, a small thought — and perhaps we could speculate on what that thought was. It was, of course, against one of God's policies that he did not particularly care for, that he didn't think anything of to begin with. He was not for it. He did not devote himself to it. He was not totally positive for a particular policy of God. And because he didn't do that, of course, he allowed himself to think negatively toward that policy and began to think what God has done was bad, and it was wrong.

   And of course, once you think the man has done something wrong, then your feelings immediately transfer to the man. It always does. And this is what Satan did. And of course that led to other things, but he entertained a thought first, and he kept on entertaining it, and it led to another one. He was the first one to devise evil — the first one in the whole creation to devise evil.

   We are not given enough time to devise evil in our own minds. We aren't given enough time to devise either good or evil. We're influenced before we ever given enough time to do that. Satan was given plenty of time, and we don't know how long that time was, but it was plenty of time before he evolved in his mind a thought that was not correct. We, in a very short lifetime, are not given the opportunity to devise either good or evil on our own. We're influenced before we can ever begin to do it.

   Now, many people in God's church have gone along for years and years. Now here's what we must explain: they have gone along for years and years — many years — having belief, trust, faith, obedience, and love. What happened to them that that process was reversed? They went below the line, and it happened as Paul described: that your minds were corrupted from the truth, from the simplicity in Christ, as however you may wish to say it.

   What happens to the individual's mind that the process of — of ascending to the perfect plane of love was reversed, and they descended or degenerated to the point of hate? What happened? No, they didn't devise it on their own. You see, contrary to Satan or Lucifer, who was the only one given the opportunity to devise evil, the rest of the angels did not devise it. It was introduced to them. And with human beings, it is introduced to us. We do not devise it. And you were not born with human nature, but it was introduced to you in one form or one way or — or another. Something was introduced to these people from another source.

   Let's go back then to II Corinthians, chapter 11 and verse — verse 4: "For if he that cometh preaching another Jesus" — and how their minds corrupted by someone else coming preaching another Jesus — "whom we have not preached, or if you have receive another spirit" — which you did not previously receive, this is contrary to the Holy Spirit now, this is another spirit — "or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him," as it should read in the King James Version. You would do better to — to bear with me.

   Because Paul was the one who preached them — preached to them the true Jesus. He showed them the way to the real Holy Spirit, and he gave them the true gospel. And something else was occurring here: that the minds were being corrupted — minds were being corrupted from this that he had preached to them.

   Now, everyone has made the same mistake. Everyone has made the same mistake. They listened. They listened, and when it became obvious that it was contrary to what they knew was right, they continued to listen. The point I'm making is this: people who have left God's church did not devise the evil. It was introduced to them from another source, apart from their own minds, apart from whatever they considered themselves. But it was introduced to them.

   Now, you have no choice but to listen to it for a short period of time, because whenever somebody is presenting something to you, you don't know whether it's right or wrong, do you? However, when it becomes obvious that it is indeed wrong, they continued to listen. And that was a mistake.

   I don't know just how long it's going to take for us to learn that if we listen and that if we entertain, we will be affected, regardless of what your intention is now, or what your intention will be later on. You will be affected by that. I do believe I can demonstrate that to you.

   I want to go through an example in the book of Numbers that you are all familiar with — perhaps some superficially familiar with. Let's go into it a little bit deeper. I want to take a little bit of time with this to show you what happened to the minds of people, what occurred, and perhaps we can learn a lesson from it. This is the case where twelve men were sent in to spy out the land. These twelve men who were chosen were administrators in their tribes, Joshua being one of them who were chosen. And when you consider his particular rank or position within his own tribe, then the position of the other men who were chosen were also commensurate with, uh, or equal with Joshua in their own tribes. And these were administrators; these were princes. They were — these were men who represented each of the tribes. They were sent to spy out the land.

   Verse 25 (Numbers 13:25): "And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, and to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan."

   Here was a part of the report which was negative, as God calls a little bit later on — He calls it an evil report. Now, you might say, "Well, they didn't — they — they just told us the way it was." Now wait a minute. That's not what God says about it, because they had a little bit more to say about it than that.

   "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses." Well, why did he have to still them? Because they were all upset over what they had just heard. And it was entirely the wrong thing to do — to give the evil report or the negative report about what they've seen. "Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we."

   Caleb and Joshua saw with their own eyes exactly the same thing the ten other men saw — precisely the same thing. So they all traveled together, and they all came back together. Two of them came up with one conclusion; ten came up with another conclusion. So it shows how different people look on things, and they look at the same thing, they come up with a different conclusion altogether. Two of them says, "We can do it; we can overcome it." The other ones say, "We don't have a hope and a chance in the world. We're gonna — forget it." Which, of course, directly went against the instructions that God gave to Moses — that they ought to go in.

   "And they brought up an evil report," verse 32 — that's what it says. "They brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature." And of course, here are exaggerations of what they saw. "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight," of course, which is an exaggeration. And it shows the mind — the very negative mind and the attitude, the corruptness that they fell into — because they exaggerate this whole — this whole thing.

   "And all the congregation" — that's interesting to note that here are people who were affected by what they heard and their reaction to it — "all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night." So they cried. They were in a pretty — pretty bad mood. "And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!" Either way, it doesn't matter. It's a lot better than going and dying by the hands of these people. "And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

   Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying — now here are people who are going, uh, going about the — the families in Israel are trying to overcome and trying to combat this terrible evil report these other people brought up — "The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey. Only rebel you not against the Lord, neither fear you the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not."

   Notice what the congregation did: "But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel." So God stepped in, intervened just in time before the people of Israel were gonna get together and stone them.

   What plane do you think they had descended to here? Was it not hate? But perhaps it was for some time — for some short period of time — of belief, trust and confidence, faith and obedience, and perhaps even love. I do not know. But here is what they should have achieved. They deteriorated very rapidly, and they did a flip-flop so fast — faster than any Smokey will do on the highway, do a flip-flop — they did a flip-flop so fast that you wouldn't even recognize — you wouldn't even recognize their attitude that degenerated.

   First of all, to disbelieve: "We don't believe what you're trying to tell us." We doubt. We no longer have any faith. And then they disobeyed: "So let's go back to Egypt. We — we have nothing to do with this." Then they hated. They hated the ones who were bringing the good report. So I — I — that certain, but I could demonstrate that kind of an attitude here right in the Bible, and — and — and how a person's attitude can degenerate once they fall from a very, very high level of love. It does fall from a high level of admiration, of love, something that they're devoted to, something that they're all for, something that they're loyal to. What — the Israelites were. Yes, they were gung-ho for it. Now they're ready to stone, ready to kill, because they hated them.

   "And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be before they believe me?" — that is believe me continually, constantly, consistently — "for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than these."

   Now, Moses, of course, prayed to God and asked God not to do that, which perhaps — I do not know whether God had intentions to do at all, but certainly, Moses's prayer — whether it changed God's mind or whether God was just trying to see what — what Moses would do in the circumstances such as this — I do not know. Uh, frankly, I don't think it matters a whole lot, but nonetheless, he, Moses has got to pardon the people, and God was prepared to pardon them.

   So here is what the Lord said in verse 20: "I have pardoned according to your word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles" — which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and when they saw that, they were in a very, very high level of — of — of belief, trust, faith, obedience, and love. They had ascended to that pinnacle. When they saw His glory and His miracles, and they were loyal, they're ready to go wherever — wherever God led, because they left Egypt, and it says, with a high hand. They were for it entirely, completely — "and have now tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice."

   You can see where they had fallen. "Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit" — now, I hope we understand that there are spirits that we can attach to ourselves to, or that can attach themselves to us more correctly, that we can be powerfully influenced by if we begin to descend that ladder. We can be influenced by a wrong spirit. But Caleb here, he had another spirit — "with him, which followed me fully, and that was the kind of spirit he had. One that would follow God fully. And him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it."

   Tomorrow turn you, to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea." In other words, that was final. They're not going to enter into the land.

   "And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, except Caleb and Josuha. But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, and shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my false way of my promise."

   That's how it should be, as you may have in your own margin — how I have altered my purpose in this. "I the Lord have said, I will surely do it, this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there shell they die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up slander upon the land" — now notice that the way God said it: they brought up a slander against the land. Some might say, "Well, they're just telling it the way it is." It was slander, and God called it as such — "Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua and Caleb were spared.

   Now, you might ask the question: why did God ever want them to go into the land? I'll tell you why. Because they believed the slander. And forty years later — whether it's been ten years or twenty or thirty, but it so happened it was forty because that's how long it would take for them to die — they would still remember the evil report. That's why He didn't want them to go in, because I don't care what their intentions would be, I don't care how much they wanted to get rid of them — they would still remember it. And He didn't want anybody into the land — the promised land — who had experienced such a terrible thing and had ingrained in their minds to the point where they came to the — to the point of hate. You're not going to enter the promised land.

   I hope you understand, but that is analogous too: that if we come to the point in our minds where we hate, it is a very easy thing to do — go against God's church. We're not going to be in the kingdom of God, and our carcasses are going to fall in the wilderness, as it were. We're not going to make it, because you see, it would still be there.

   Now folks, I — I want you to understand what happens to your mind when you hear things. I don't care how innocent it may be. I don't care how harmless you may think it is. It's still in your mind. You heard it? It's there. It is especially there if you allow your attitude to deteriorate to a certain point. It is there. Unless — I hope that you took steps to stop the — the — the process of degeneration. But this was so terribly ingrained in the minds of these people. He said, "I can't afford to let them in the land because they'll never make it even then, because they will continue that evil report forty years later. I don't care if it's not even mentioned again. I don't care what their intentions are. They'll bring it up forty years from now when we go into the land." He says they are not going to enter in.

   And God knows what — the person's mind has been so terribly corrupted with slander, so His truth, or His church, or His gospel, for the work that He's doing — you cannot ever let him in the kingdom of God when they make that point. You can't do it unless that mind is totally and completely cleansed.

   I — I want to make that very clear and to show you how — how far, how terrible the effects of listening to and reading literature that comes out, and listening to tapes that — that are — that come out of [inaudible] or wherever they may come out about this church, about the leadership of this church, about the truth of this church, or whatever. Put it in your mind, and then see what happens.

   There's a young man in this congregation who was a fine member of this congregation right up until the feast — presented a copy of the Ambassador Report, and he read it, and it blew his mind, and you can't talk to him. How many times have I seen this in my own experience? You can't talk to them any longer. You give them truth. I say, "Here's the slander; here's the Bible. Choose one of them." You know which one he's gonna choose? Every time. Every time.

   You go ahead and expose yourself to it. When you leave the church, I got no sympathy for you because you're breaking a terrible, terrible law. It says in Exodus, chapter 23 and verse 1 — read it. Exodus 23:1: "You shall not receive" — as the word is — "a false report: and put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." You're not to receive it.

   Now, if we choose to receive it, and we want to...

[Tape Flipped]

   All right you're gonna be terribly, terribly affected. I had enough phone calls come to my house and people talking to me that I knew around the country about the evil report, about this work, about a year ago — a little bit before then. But I got just sick and tired of it. I said, "I'm not going to listen," because I saw what it was beginning to do to my mind. You can't let it happen.

   All right, now we already lost somebody right here in the Freeport church, I think. But knowing how it goes and how these things go, you're just not going to salvage this individual. You're not going to do it. Because you see what you do — you got another spirit that latches on to you, and you have no basis for discussion, none whatsoever, no place for reasoning with them. And the whole thing is hopeless.

   I Timothy 4:1: "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, seducing spirits, doctrines of devils." And they're going to leave the church because they gave heed to them. They listened, they listened to it, and they were seduced by it. Speaking lies in hypocrisy." And the — the source of the truth or — or whatever — I'm sorry, the source of the slander — you had better examine. "Having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

   Perhaps some of you have been — perhaps you've never have been in the position that I have to look right in the eyes of people, a different person than you knew previously, who has done a, flop, flip-flop. I mean, who has turned so quickly, and it's unbelievable.

   Down in Brisbane, Australia, I had a man that I talked to one morning. He said he was all for us. He was with us 100%. He went and talked to the deacon that I disfellowshipped because he was spreading a lot of rumors. He came back that afternoon — he was drunk. Puffed up. You know it could happen to you. I know it could happen to you because he shouldn’t have made [inaudible]. He disobeyed and went and exposed himself to such a thing. And once he did that, why should God protect him anymore? What, are you gonna disobey Him? You're disobey Him, I don’t think so.

   What, God’s truth doesn’t constantly need to be in competition with a lot of slop that may come into your mind. It doesn't [inaudible] — when a truth is truth, it's been proved, demonstrated over and over and over and over again, and we know it. You have no need to go out and to examine it against filth and slop. You just don't. There's no need for it whatsoever.

   Some people think they got to see how strong they are. They got to expose themselves to it. Let me tell you something: once that seed has been implanted in your mind, you may not pay any attention to it — to it now. You may not have any regard for what you hear. You sit and you listen — the seed is there.

   I wanna tell you something about certain seeds. There's some plants down in — in the continent of Australia that will not sprout until the fire goes through and burns it up, which may be a difference between five years, six years, maybe every two years, or however often a bushfire may come through. Those seeds will not sprout until the circumstances are just right. Put seed in your mind — and it's there. It's there. It may not affect you now. It may not affect you two years from now. It might not affect you three or four or five years from now, ten years from now. But the seed's there, and given the right circumstances, it will sprout, unless that seed is gotten out of your mind.

   Many diseases exist today in society. Smallpox exists, polio exists, waiting for the right time before it can begin to spread. Think about — you expose yourself. There's some bad seeds — Satan’s slander — things that you have heard that somebody else said about God's servants. And they're gonna be there. They're gonna stay there. They're gonna remain dormant until — until something happens. And then it's gonna take hold. It's going to grow. You may be wrong, you may be hurt. Something adverse may occur to you. You may have a certain trial or a certain problem come along, and that is when the seed will sprout. Why? Because you let it lodge, because it became obvious. What you were hearing and listening was wrong. You still listened.

   Just like Eve, who when it was obvious that when Satan — or what Satan said that was wrong — she still listened. It wasn't wrong for her to talk to the person. It was wrong to listen after he introduced error. And you saw what happened to her.

   II John, chapter 10: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." And sooner or later you will be, if you agree to it or you listen to it, you entertain it. You're gonna one day be a partaker of it, because you accept it. You let him do it.

   Now here's what God said we need to be prepared to do that, uh, we are going to allow the things that we have heard to stay there, to remain, to remain dormant until a time when they will sprout, and they will flourish. They will consume our minds. Yes, they will.

   Six years ago this month, the month of November 1973 — John Mitchell got up and told us such a rotten filth that 120 people believed it and they left. But you still remember it, don't you? Yes, you do. Some of you are affected more by it than others. You can't tell me it hasn't affected you since. And some still — it's six years to come to the point in this Fort Worth congregation. That's a good, clean congregation. The bad attitudes are gone, people contend, people supporting the church. It took a while.

   You're gonna tell me that people weren't hurt by it? You're gonna tell me it didn't take months and years for people to get this out of their minds? I'll tell you what it did. I'll tell you what it's done right now. You're still quick to suspect. You're still quick to disbelieve the report. You’re still quick, to judge. You're still very, very quick to lose confidence where you weren't before.

   Tell me it hasn't affected you. Oh yes, it has. You cannot sit and listen for a period of one hour to garbage being thrown at you and it not affect you for years after that. Disbelieve me if you wish. But the way people in this congregation will back me up on it.

   It's so important that I did hear a terrible thing about a person, a year ago and I can't get it out of my mind every time I see the individual. See, I know what happens to the mind. I only hope somehow, for God's help, we will do two things.

   Number one: do precisely what it said in II John 10 — do not receive it. Do not receive it. I don't know how long it's gonna take for us to learn it. But, this young man would have done that. He says, "I'm not going to" — he tried to show me the thing. I said, "I'm sorry, I'm not — I didn't want to touch it. I didn't want to look at it. I didn't want to look at the picture in front of the magazine. I didn't want to see it." Because I knew — I remember — because I had seen the magazine before in Portland, and I still remember what I read.

   I've got one hope, and so do you. In Ephesians 5:26: "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." You got one chance: clean out your mind with God's word, it’s God’s truth, is righteous truth — totally positive, totally upbuilding, totally edifying in every way. Wash your mind with that. Have enough of God's spirit that hopefully we're gonna get such things out of our minds, and that whatever seeds may be there — no matter how strong they are — will be cast out and will be destroyed. Now we can become indeed pure — pure in the sight of God, having a complete trust, a total confidence, total belief, total faith, a total obedience, and total love.