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                       The Moment of Truth has Come!

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By David Wilkerson
December 8, 1986
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          "Yea, truth is fallen in the street, and equity
          (holiness cannot enter... Yea, truth faileth: and he
          that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey... and
          the Lord saw it and it displeased Him that there was no
          judgment" (Isaiah 59:12-15).

          The prophet Isaiah said, Truth is fallen in the streets
          - the door is being closed to holiness and those who
          want to follow the Lord wholly are becoming victims
          because of soft preaching.

          The prophet is warning that sincere young believers are
          being hurt because their leaders are not preaching the
          truth of holiness. He said, "Those who depart from evil
          become the victims..." It is because , "None calleth
          for righteousness, nor any pleadeth for truth" (Isaiah
          59:4).

          Ezekiel is even more emphatic about how some of God's
          ministers are trampling the truth and destroying lives
          by their own selfish interests: "There is a conspiracy
          of her prophets in her midst... they have taken
          treasure and precious things... Her priests have done
          violence to My law and have profaned My holy things;
          they have made no distinction between the holy and the
          profane, and they have not taught the difference
          between the unclean and the clean... her prophets have
          smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and
          divining lies for them, saying, Thus says the Lord,
          when the Lord has not spoken" (Ezekiel 22:25-28 NAS).

          God searched for one among them who would stand for the
          truth. Deception and compromise had brought down the
          walls of protection. "And I searched for a man among
          them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap
          before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it;
          but I found no one" (Ezekiel 22:30 NAS).

          Jeremiah said his "eyes were a fountain of tears,"
          because the people of God were given to covetousness -
          they had become adulterers, an assembly of treacherous
          people. His grief was caused by all the lies being
          preached to such people by false prophets and
          self-centered priests. He said of them: "They are not
          valiant for the truth - they will not preach the
          truth!" (Jeremiah 9:2,3,5).

          Hosea warned that God has a controversy with His people
          because of the trampling of truth to the ground: "The
          Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the
          land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor
          knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying,
          and killing, and stealing and committing adultery, they
          break out, and blood toucheth blood" (Hosea 4:1,2).

          The more God blessed His people, the more sinful and
          corrupt they became. Sin became rampant among them and
          those in the pulpit fed their sinful lusts. Pulpit and
          pew were equally corrupted. "As they were increased, so
          they sinned against me: therefore I will change their
          glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people and
          they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall
          be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them
          for their ways, and reward them for their doings"
          (Hosea 4:7-9).

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                             Strange Children

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          The pulpits were so soft on sin, so compromising, they
          gave birth to strange children! Hosea prophesied, "They
          shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek
          the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath
          withdrawn himself from them. They have dealt
          treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten
          strange children..." (Hosea 5:6,7).

          In Hebrew the word strange as used here means to turn
          away - to commit adultery - to turn aside! I love this
          generation of young people and God does have a holy
          remnant among them - but I cannot think of a better
          description for many of them than this of Hosea: "They
          have become strange children." I mean by this, strange
          to the righteous ways of the Lord. The soft-on-sin
          preaching so prevalent today has birthed a generation
          of youth who are so mixed in with the leaven of this
          world, they have become foreigners to truth and
          holiness. They can carry Bibles to ungodly rock
          concerts. The Stryper (Christian?) rock band can rub
          their hands down their hips in sensuous, suggestive
          motions toward the girls - then throw Bibles at them.

          Why is this generation so blind to the truth of
          separation from the world? Why are so many Christian
          girls having children out of wedlock? Why are thousands
          of our Christian kids so confused, mixed up, and using
          drugs? Why are thousands of them drinking now? Why do
          heavy metal and punk rock bands have such an easy time
          charming the hearts of our children?

          Hosea said it right - there is treachery in the pulpit!
          There are so few valiant for the truth! So few without
          "the spirit of whoredom" upon them! So few men and
          women of God who walk in truth, who will show God's
          people the difference between what is holy and profane.

          Hosea said the prophets became snares, traps - "because
          they corrupted themselves..." He prayed that God would
          give them a miscarrying womb and cause them to bear no
          fruit. "Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts...
          they will bear no fruit..." (Hosea 9:14-16 NAS).

          What concerns me the most is that this generation of
          strange children refuse all correction! They do not
          tremble at God's Word. They simply whitewash the name
          of Jesus over all their sins. Reproof is totally
          rejected - they are becoming hardened in their own ways
          - and they are drawn to a pastor or teacher who glosses
          over their compromise. "An appalling and horrible thing
          has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy
          falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority
          and my people love it so! But what will you do at the
          end of it?" (Jeremiah 5:30,31).

          Jeremiah added, "This is the nation that did not obey
          the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction;
          truth has perished and has been cut off from their
          mouth" (Jeremiah 7:28).

          The prophets foretold that Christ would come to rebuild
          a holy tabernacle founded on truth!

          "Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and will
          dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be
          called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord
          of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain" (Zechariah
          8:2,3).

          Christ came to raise up a people for Himself who would
          love the truth and walk in its light and preach it in
          its fullness. His holy mountain, upon which the New
          Jerusalem is built, will belong only to those who
          execute judgment on idolatry and all hidden sin.
          Zechariah prophesied, "These are the things that ye
          shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor
          execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates"
          (Zechariah 8:16).

          In these last days our Lord is raising up a holy people
          free from deception and dishonesty! They desire to walk
          in the holy fear of God! They refuse to walk with
          hypocrites or frauds or tricksters. They love godly
          reproof and are willing to come under the searching
          light of the Holy Ghost. Isaiah prophesied, "And in
          mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit
          upon it in truth and in the tabernacle of David,
          judging, seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness"
          (Isaiah 16:5).

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                           A Heart Like David's!

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          "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of
          Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day
          shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as
          God, as the angel of the Lord before him" (Zechariah
          12:8).

          The prophets said Christ would rebuild His tabernacle
          as in the days of David. What it means is that God will
          have in these last days a people who have the same kind
          of heart David had - a heart of truth - set on God! A
          heart with no part dark - no hidden sin - no secret
          lust. And such truth in the inner man that, when sin is
          discovered or revealed, it is quickly confessed and
          forsaken.

          David said, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward
          parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to
          know wisdom. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and
          renew a right spirit within me..." (Psalm 51:6,10,13).
          Also, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon
          Him, to all that call upon him in truth" (Psalm
          145:17,18).

          On his deathbed, David charged his son Solomon to
          follow his steps in walking with the Lord in truth with
          all his heart! "If thy children take heed to their way,
          to walk before me in truth with all their heart and
          with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said
          he) a man on the throne of Israel" (1 Kings 2:1,4).

          Not all the demonic forces of hell - not all the
          principalities and powers in high places - can hinder
          God's purpose to have for Himself a holy people who
          walk before Him in truth with all their hearts.

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                 The Wrath of God is Reserved For Those Who
                  Corrupt the Truth by Holding Onto Sin!

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          "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
          all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
          suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that
          which is known about God is evident within them; for
          God made it evident to them" (Romans 1:18,19 NAS).

          What a tragedy that while Christ is building Himself a
          holy city established on truth - multitudes, including
          ministers of Christ's gospel, are exchanging the truth
          for a lie! "for they exchanged the truth of God for a
          lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than
          the Creator, who is blessed forever" (Romans 1:25 NAS).

          When the Holy Spirit exposes sin in a life - that is
          the TRUTH of God's holiness laying claim on the heart.
          Time after time the Holy Spirit will call for total
          surrender and forsaking of lust and besetting sins. He
          will never stop demanding truth and righteousness in
          the inner man!

          When the conviction of the Holy Spirit is ignored and
          the heart stubbornly holds to lust and besetting sin,
          it is possible to become so hardened that God gives the
          heart over to a lie! Paul warned, " And with all
          deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
          because they received not the love of the truth, that
          they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send
          them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;
          and they all might be damned who believed not the
          truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2
          Thessalonians 2:10-12). They rejected the conviction
          against sin, despising the truth - loving their
          pleasures and indulging their passions. "Therefore God
          gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to
          impurity" (Romans 1:24 NAS).

          What is this lie God gives them over to? It is a
          depraved, reprobated mind that is blind to all
          judgment. It is a heart so hardened by sin, it is
          immune to the fear of God! It is the loss of all
          spiritual discernment." "And, although they know the
          ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
          are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but
          also give hearty approval to those who practice them"
          (Romans 1:32 NAS).

          In Pilgrim's Progress, when Christian was about to
          leave the Interpreter's house, he was told to "Stay...
          till I have showed thee a little more, and after that
          thou shalt go thy way." What was this sight Christian
          must see before he was allowed to continue his journey?
          It was the Man of Despair sitting in an iron cage.
          Christian asked, "How camest thou in this condition?"
          The imprisoned man of Despair answered, "I quit
          watching and being sober; I gave loose reign to my
          lusts; I sinned against the Light of the Word and the
          goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and HE is
          gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have
          so hardened my heart that I cannot repent."

          Who is this man of despair locked in an iron cage? He
          is the man or woman of God who attempts to go on doing
          the will of God while maintaining some kind of secret
          corruption in the heart. The iron cage is the curse of
          an inner hardening upon servants of God who have
          silenced the still small voice and who now go on
          ministering as adulterers and hypocrites - without a
          sense of shame. They no longer know how to blush. The
          iron cage symbolizes the condition of "being past
          feelings" - a judgment of a holy God against all who
          have given themselves over to the driving lusts of
          their flesh.

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                  There is an avenging power of holiness.

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          There is a solemn, terrifying kind of revenge that
          awaits every servant of God who mocks truth by
          indulging in lustful passion. Every servant of God who
          perverts the holiness of God before the eyes of the
          people will be avenged.

          You witness the avenging power of holiness on Mount
          Nebo, where Moses was told by God, "Go and die and be
          gathered unto your people... You shall see the Lord...
          at a distance, but you shall not go there... because
          you broke faith with Me in the midst of the Sons of
          Israel at the waters of Meribah - Kadesh because you
          did not treat Me holy in the midst of the Sons of
          Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:49-52).

          Moses had acted before the people in such a way that
          the truth of God's supreme holiness was struck a blow.
          He made God appear less holy than He was before the
          people. It was because he was known and respected for
          his meekness and holiness that made the avenging so
          severe. Many young Israelites went into the promised
          land who had sinned in much greater ways. But God
          avenges most severely those who are called to exalt His
          holiness. To whom much is given, much is expected.
          "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to
          send forth a stinking savor; so doth a little folly him
          that is in reputation for wisdom and honor..."
          (Ecclesiastes 10:1).

          The avenging power of holiness is clearly revealed in
          the tragedy of the two young priests of the Lord, Nadab
          and Abihu. They had been to the mountain with Moses,
          Aaron and the seventy elders. "And they saw the God of
          Israel, and under His feet there appeared to be a
          pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself... and
          they beheld God, and they ate and drank..." (Exodus
          24:9-11).

          These same priests who had witnessed the unspeakable
          glory and presence of God offered strange fire before
          the Lord. With the eyes of all Israel upon them, they
          mocked the truth and holiness of God - they took
          lightly the judgments and warnings of a holy God - and
          "Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and
          consumed them, and they died before the Lord..."
          (Leviticus 10:1,2).

          Moses reminded their father Aaron that God had warned
          them of the avenging power of His holiness. "Then Moses
          said to Aaron, it is what the Lord spake, saying, by
          those who come near Me I will be considered an holy,
          and before all the people I will be honored" (Leviticus
          10:3).

          Beloved, God has not changed! We are His priests - we
          must show Him to be holy before the people or we too
          will experience the avenging power of His holiness! We
          are living in a day of grace but too many think the New
          Testament age abounds with such condescending mercy -
          God will wink at secret sins. He will not!

          Ananias and Sapphira lived under the canopy of grace.
          But under grace, God looks at the heart and avenges the
          deception lodged there. They tempted the Holy Spirit by
          thinking they could slip in a lie beneath His
          all-seeing eye. They dropped dead in a New Testament
          Pentecostal church where grace and mercy was being
          preached. God was avenging His holiness. This couple
          was about to introduce into the church a leaven that
          could have leavened the whole lump. God would not
          permit a single couple in that church to live a lie, to
          worship and serve Him with a demonic secret hidden away
          in their hearts. The Spirit would not permit them to
          speak with tongues, witness, and go into the world
          handling Christ's gospel, bearing the holy standard,
          while clinging to secret sin!

          Paul is very clear on the matter of the avenging power
          of God's holiness. He said, "for this is the will of
          God, your sanctification; that is , that you abstain
          from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to
          possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor...
          not in lustful passion... and that no man transgresses
          and defraud his brother in the matter - because the
          Lord is the avenger in all these things... just as
          we... solemnly warned you" (1 Thessalonians 4:3-6).

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                  When Truth is Rejected - Fraud Sets In.

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          We had better not take this solemn warning of the
          avenging power of holiness lightly. It is addressed to
          brethren; and Paul adds, "He who rejects this is not
          rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to
          you" (verse 8).

          Paul minces no words! The servant of God who is a slave
          to lust, who is driven by evil passion, who is involved
          in sexual immorality of any kind - is a transgressor
          and a fraud! A deceiver! A fraud is one who deceives by
          a false pretense of piety! A trickster who tries to
          steal what he covets!

          An Assembly of God minister left his pastorate of 20
          years and his wife of 25 years and moved in with a
          woman from his church. She has two teenagers who can't
          understand how the preacher they thought was so holy
          can live their mother - while he is not even yet
          divorced! He has defrauded those children! He has
          defamed the holiness of God before all the people! He
          faces the avenging power of God's holiness for having
          trampled truth to the ground.

          He is a fraud who stands in the pulpit preaching grace
          and mercy, while sneaking about in private to feed his
          soul on pornography!

          He is a fraud who stands in the pulpit Sunday morning -
          even weeping - letting the church perceive him as a
          holy man - while all the while his heart is
          treacherous. He is treacherous toward his wife! He is
          defrauding the husband of the woman he is involved
          with! He is defrauding his own children, as well as the
          children of his secret lover. He is defrauding the
          church, the city, the household of faith. He is taking
          lightly the warnings of God's holy avenging.

          She is a fraud who appears before the people as a
          sweet, faithful pure woman of God - yet in her heart
          there is a fountain of lust. She rents filthy movies
          and indulges her lusts. Or, she carries on what she
          excuses as "a harmless relationship."

          Multitudes of Gods people are becoming frauds before
          the world because the lusts and evil passions of this
          world have crept in to pollute and corrupt their hearts
          and minds. They flock to theaters to view the most
          wicked and vile moves - and like peeping Toms, fill
          their eyes with demonic scenes that corrupt the heart
          with all kinds of perversions. Those perversions are
          often introduced into the homes of Christians and now
          many are experimenting with forbidden and dangerous
          practices. Then they come to the house of God to praise
          and worship, with upraised hands. Some dance! It is
          outright fraud! Paul calls it "defrauding brethren!"

          The worst fraud of all is the minister who is soft on
          sin in the pulpit, because of the lust reigning in his
          own heart! He will blast preachers who cry out against
          sin as doomsday preachers. He will grasp at every
          sermon, every book, on mercy and grace. He will tell
          you of all the sins and failures of the great men of
          God - taking comfort from it all.

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            An Evil Transformation Follows Rejection of Truth!

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          Paul said Satan was transformed into an angel of light.
          So is it possible for ministers who despise the truth
          and who are given over to the evil of their hearts to
          be transformed into false prophets and satanic angels
          of light. "For such are false apostles, deceitful
          workers, transforming themselves into apostles of
          Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed
          into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing
          if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
          of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
          works" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These transformed
          ministers are those who introduce another gospel,
          another Jesus. I believe such become the angels of
          light come to deceive. They become the miracle-workers
          who cry Lord, Lord, but are workers of iniquity. Paul
          warned of this kind of deception. He wrote to the
          Corinthians, "...I am afraid, lest as the serpent
          deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be
          let astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion
          to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus
          whom we have not preached, or you receive a different
          spirit which you have not received, or a different
          gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this
          beautifully" (2 Corinthians 11:2-4 NAS).

          Truth, when sought and embraced, sets one free. Totally
          free! But when the demands of truth are ignored, the
          heart finally becomes hard as flint and God must "turn
          them over" to their lusts. Nothing can then hinder the
          total transformation into a child of the devil. There
          is no greater judgment on earth!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

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