Bro Paul Markee 3-25-1988 "Who's Going To Gaurd The Ashes And Carry The Torch?"

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Amen.
The Bible said in Proverbschapter 26 and verse 20, where
no wood is, there the fire goethout.
Where no wood is, there the firegoeth out.

(00:31):
So where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceaseth.
And I'm not going to preach onthat latter portion of that
scripture, but you know I waspraying one day, and the Lord

(00:52):
spoke to me about that.
And the Bible said that one ofthe things that God hates is he
that soweth discord among thebrethren.
And that thing got a hold of me.

(01:13):
And I'm going to tell you whatthat means, friend.
I think every last one of us,probably every one of us in this
building tonight, I like whatone fellow said by the name of
Wilbur Chapman.
He said gossip is something thatnobody likes.

(01:36):
But everybody enjoys.
And to destroy good churches.

(01:57):
Listen to me now.
And that is for someone to tellyou something about somebody.
And then you tell somebody elsewhat somebody told you about
somebody else.
And one fella said secrets arewhat we tell to just one person

(02:21):
at a time.
But me and you are specialfriends.
I'm just you.
You're the only one I'm tellingthis.
And then that one goes over andsays, now listen, I promised him
I wouldn't tell nobody, but youare my special friend, and we

(02:44):
don't hide nothing, and I'm justnow you're the only one that's
gonna know this.
Now listen, you're my specialfriend.
And I said I wasn't gonna tell,I promised that man wouldn't
tell nobody, and but me andyou're close, and now you're the
only one that's gonna know this.

(03:07):
Now I promised that I wasn'tgonna tell nobody this, and only
me, now you're the only one thatI'm telling.
And by that time, that one fellahas done told him, and he told
him, and he told him, and hetold him.
Hallelujah.
Everybody thought they were soimportant.
Right.

(03:29):
And all the time God said thatone of the things that he hates
is the opposite brethren.
Hallelujah! So I tell you whatI've been praying, God would
help me to do.

(03:51):
As if someone does tell mesomething, is just to take it to
the Lord in prayer.
And that's hard to do sometimes.
No, that's hard to do all thetime.
But I declare it's the rightthing to do.
Somebody say amen.
Just a little thicker than that,would you?

(04:14):
Hallelujah.
Amen.
All right, but I want to preachtonight on where no wood is, the
fire goes out.
And I want to preach tonight onthis subject.
Will you guard the ashes orcarry the torch?
Hallelujah.

(04:34):
Heavenly Father, help us tonightfrom heaven and stand by me and
strengthen me by thy mightyhand.
I realize tonight if you don'ttouch me, and if you don't stand
beside of me, and if your sweetHoly Ghost don't anoint me, then
I'll not be able to help thiscongregation.

(04:56):
And Lord, I have no otherpurpose to be here but to
deliver the message and be ahelp and a strength of this
pastor and this church and thiscongregation.
And so now I ask you to help me,not because I'm worthy, but
because I'm needful.
And I ask you to breathe upon metonight in the holy name of

(05:19):
Jesus.
And all of God's children said,Amen.
Hallelujah.
Where no word is.

(05:57):
And uh one of the first thingsthat I did was I got a wood
stove.
And being raised in the city, Ihad never ever built one fire in
a stove.
And I know you country folksthink, man, poor guy.

(06:22):
Say, well, how did you do?
Well, wasn't too bad.
Hallelujah.
Wasn't too bad.
I figured it out pretty quick.
And uh, you know, he had alittle paper and some small
sticks and crisscrossed them alittle bit, and a little hair,
and a little bigger chunks, andthen a few bigger ones, and

(06:45):
liked her fire, and opened thedraft, and if he got a bottom
and open that and let her riptill you get her going and shut
her down a little bit.
Hallelujah.
And uh, you know, I had to learna lot of things and cut wood,
never had cut any wood, and hadto learn how to cut some wood

(07:08):
and build some fires and gathersome sticks.
I'm gonna tell you one thing,Brother Peter Grimm, it did not
take me long to learn that whenthe wood burns out, if you do
not put some more in, you'regonna start getting cold.

unknown (07:33):
That's right.

SPEAKER_00 (07:35):
Woo, hatty.
Brother Strickler, I learnedthat.
Yes, sir.
I'm telling you it's right.
I know it is.
I mean I know it's right.
I'm not thinking it's right.
I'm telling you, when the woodgoes out, the fire dies out, and
you are going to get pulled.

(07:57):
There have been many times atnight when I went down and I got
ready, and I got one of themshenanigans stoves, and I tell
you I like them.
They're big, and you can put alot of wood in them.
Amen.
You get them from the co-op.
Do y'all get them down hereshenandoas?

(08:17):
I tell you, they're top-notchstoves.
Amen.
And brother, I chugged them justas full as I could get it.
Then I'd usually stay down therea little bit down the basement,
lay down on this old couch I haddown there until I got her
caught up real good and got itjust, I mean, just roaring, and

(08:42):
the sides almost abulging on it,and the pipe read hot.
And then I'd shut her down andclose the draft down on the pipe
going up out to the roof.
And then I'd open the draft alittle bit on the bottom, and
then I'd head upstairs, and manytimes I have to get up in the

(09:06):
middle of the night and shut thedoor to the basement.
I was sweating.
It got so hot.
But now there's been a few timeswhen I woke up about three
o'clock and I felt mightychilly.
And I said something has gonewrong.

(09:26):
And so I staggered down thehall.
Staggered down the steps, andsoon I found that it was cold in
the basement.
And somehow or some way, thedraft had got open, and both

(09:48):
drafts, and sometimes maybe thedoor, and all my wood had burnt
out, and there was nothing but afew ashes, and it done got cold
in that place.
Now, Brother Stickler, if Iwanted to, I could have done
like a lot of church folks.

(10:09):
I could have gathered aroundthat stove and rubbed my hands
and stood around for two orthree days or six months and
dreamed I was gonna get warm.
But I realized, I realized if Iwas ever gonna get warm, if
there's ever gonna be any moreheat come out of that stove, I

(10:31):
was gonna have to put some morewood in the stove.
Hallelujah.
Woo! I'm gonna tell you tonight,dear brothers and sisters, we're
either gonna become theguardians of the ashes, or we're
gonna carry some wood and buildsome fires of Holy Ghost

(10:54):
survival in our churches inthese last and dying hours.
Lift your hands tonight.
Woo!

unknown (11:04):
Praise God.

SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
Amen.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
So many times, and I've got alot to say tonight, and I want
to get this foundation, and thenopen up and preach a little bit,
if God would help me.
So many, many times we come tochurch and we set ourselves down

(11:32):
on the seat, tired and wearyfrom the week's journey, and we
say, all right, BrotherStickler, all right, Brother
Petey Grimm, all right,musicians, I've got this far.
And here I am.

(11:52):
And if you can shake me, shakeme.
And if you can shop me, shop me.
And if you can dance me, danceme.
But I'm here and that's all Ican do.
But I want to tell you onething.
If we're gonna have someservices where the fire of God
burns, somebody is gonna have tobring some wood.

(12:17):
Somebody is gonna have to pray.
Somebody's gonna have to pay theprice.
If we're gonna have a fire ofGod burning in our services, and
the Holy Ghost walking up anddown the avenues of our
churches.
Hallelujah.

(12:41):
Oh, hallelujah.
The easiest thing, BrotherStricker got, is just to say,
well, look like BrotherStricker's got having an off
night.
Amen.
The easiest thing to say is itlook like Brother Petey Graham

(13:02):
is having an off night.
We don't dare admit, and wehaven't bothered to pray one
time.
You better set up and wake up.
Amen.
We haven't bothered to pray onetime.
We haven't bothered to crack thelid on the black back book.

(13:24):
Oh, come on.
We haven't bothered, amen, to doone thing, offer one prayer,
miss one meal for a move of God.
But if we're gonna have a Bible,somebody has got to carry the
wood to the church.
Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
Oh, hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
I want to tell you, we have got churches all across
America, brother, where thefires of the Bible have burned
out.
Five and ten and fifteen andtwenty years ago, the fires of

(14:25):
the Bible have long since burnedout.
And whether we use lame excuses,we've got uh what what we've got
uh deeper, yeah.
We've got deeper.
We've more deeper than shouting,we've got deeper than running.

(14:47):
Where to tell the gospel truth,some of them guts are rotten
dead, it's a dried out, it's abackslip.
The Holy Ghost has quit moving,and the fire's died out, and
there's nothing left but ashesin the stove anymore.

(15:12):
Come on, listen to it.

unknown (15:15):
Come on.

SPEAKER_00 (15:16):
Amen.
Help me, Lord.
Stay with me now, then I can getthis foundation laid.
Oh, I'm telling you, thou wholedenominations.
As a matter of fact, BrotherWilliam Stricker, I do not know

(15:39):
of any major and a cost ofdenominations that are any
longer having in the fire ofrevival burning in their souls.
I want to tell you the simmageof God is nothing but a group of
men in Springfield that aregathering around and guarding

(16:01):
the ashes of revival fires thathave long since burned out.
The church of God, thePentecostal holiness, the four
square, the church of God ofprophecy.
You name them one right afteranother, and everlast one of

(16:22):
them, the fires have died, andall they've got now, and all
they've become is guardians ofthe ashes, of the five of fires,
and burned out.
Oh God, amen.

(16:43):
I said amen.
I said amen, church.
Yes, sir.
So they have become the guardianof the ashes.
They talk about what used tohappen.
They gather together.
They talk about revivals theyused to have.

(17:04):
Amen.
They get together.
They talk about what God did intheir organization 25 years ago.
Huh?
They talk about what God did forthem 50 years ago.
They tell stories of revivalsthat broke out in Azusa Street.

(17:25):
I want to tell you something.
Amen.
They may be content to gatheraround those stoves and rub
their hands around the coldashes of burned out fires.
But as for me, I've got to havea Bible now.
Ask for me.

(17:46):
I've got to have a fire now.
As for me, I believe God canhelp us now.
As for me, I'm looking forrevival fires to break it.
Woo! Hallelujah.

(18:07):
In ancient days, they used tohave men who were called the
guardian of the fire.
And you see, in those days,before they had diamond matches,
and before they had littlematchbooks that you could pick

(18:31):
up in any grocery store, thatyou could pick up at the bank
before those came around.
And then fire was a veryprecious commodity.
And they got fire by rubbingrocks together.
They made fire by rubbing stickstogether.

(18:52):
They got fire by getting drygrass and murals until they
could get a little fire going.
Because fire was a very preciouscommodity.
And so in every village, theyhad one man.
And his whole job was to makesure that in the village square

(19:14):
there was a fire burning 24hours a day.
So that in case somebody's firewent out, they could come to the
village.
And there they could relight.
Amen, their court, and go backand relight the fires in their
home.
Amen.

(19:36):
Listen to me.
Y'all are going to help metonight.
Listen to me.
We know that the assemblies, thechurch of God, we know the major
denominations have went the wayof the world.
We know they've grown cold andcarnal.
They've gone backslid and lost.
Amen.
I don't know of any other churchin Verona, Virginia.

(20:00):
Amen.
And what I'm telling you is thisin this area, you have become
the guardians of the fire.
Are you all with me?
I said you have become theguardians of the gospel fire

(20:24):
under the Bashakamaro.
And if revival ever comes toVerona, it'll have to come from
this group of people that I'mlooking at tonight.
Because we're the last ones leftin this area that are keeping
the fire of Holy Ghost revivalburning in this area.

SPEAKER_02 (21:02):
Yes, come on.

SPEAKER_00 (21:04):
Yeah, come on.
Yeah.
Amen.
What it means is this.
If we let, if you let the firedie in Verona, who will be here
to bring the fire of the HolyGhost revival, the power of

(21:28):
Pentecost, the power of purity,of the holiness life.
If the devil could extinguishthe fire of the Veronaful gospel
church, he could take Verona.
He could mark it off the books.
He could say, I've taken anotherplace.
But I believe there's some menand women in this church that

(21:52):
say, Brother Marquis, we want tocarry the torch.
We want to lift the flame.
We want to burn the fire in theRona.
Hallelujah.
Woo! Oh, hella ho seek.
Hallelujah.

(22:16):
Have you ever been to a thingcalled a mausoleum?
A mausoleum is a place wherethey keep the ashes of dead
people.
Woo! Amen.

(22:38):
That's where they burn you upwith fire.
And put your ashes in a littleold cup or a little old bed.
And they stick you in a drawer.
And there, brother, you go tothe mausoleum.
I'm going to tell you something.
Many of our churches anddenominations have become

(22:59):
mausoleums.
Amen.
Monuments to death.
Monuments to the dead.
Monuments to death anddestruction.
My God, let's be a torch.
Let's be a fire.
Let's be a church that'sburning.
Let's be a church that's onfire.

(23:22):
Be a church that's burning.
Be a church that's reaching out.
The world that's lost and dyingand going to hell.
Lift your hands tonight.
Woo! Amen.
Listen to me.
Many of our churches havedecided that instead of old-time

(23:46):
religion, instead ofold-fashioned revival services
that would touch our youngpeople and stir them by the
power of God.
They have taken thousands ofdollars to build recreation
centers.
Hello here.

(24:07):
Amen.
They've taken the good name ofthe Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
And put their young people inshorts.
Amen.
And sent them out to play in theChurch Softball League.
Come on now.
They've got them running up anddown the aisles, running up and

(24:27):
down the stadiums in the shortsof the basketball team.
I'm gonna tell you something.
What this world is leading, it'snot another church softball
league.
What this world is needing, it'snot another church basketball
league.
What this world is needing, it'sthe mini women that are on fire

(24:51):
with the Holy Ghost.
It's the mini women that are onfire with the Holy Ghost of
heaven in their soul.

(25:27):
I felt it earlier.
I feel it now.
I see the fires of holinesstying low in many of our

(25:47):
churches.
I hate to say it, but I see itin some of the churches, in our
own fellowship.
Come on now.

(26:08):
Come on now.
Amen.
Listen to me.
I know that we cannot help thosethat come.
And I know about the doors of mychurch, they're open to
everybody that will come.
I want them to come and hear thegospel.

(26:30):
But if we do not draw the eye atthis pulpit, come on here.
On the jewelry, on the makeup,on the cut hair, come on now, on
the televisions.
Come on now, search and say man.

(26:53):
If we do not draw line onworldness at this pulpit, and in
our Sunday school rooms, and inour membership, we will see the
fires of holiness will becomeashes.
I said as in the days to come.

(27:18):
I feel something here.
I've had to bear a littlecriticism from a few and my
church.
Because I drew the line.

(27:39):
Brother strictly on themembership.
And I gave the lines tight.
Come on here.
Amen.
I drew them tight.
I drew the line tight on the onthe on the platform.
Amen.
And I don't have too much of aname, but there's one thing
about it in my area.
Of all those that are around,they say there's one thing we

(28:02):
admire about you, BrotherMarquis, and that is you've got
a standard for your pulpit.
Hear me tonight?
If we have no standard for thepulpit, we cannot expect a
standard in the pews.
Amen.

(28:24):
Come on here.
Well, I just felt like sheneeded to sing.
I thought it might do her somegood.
It won't do her any good, and itwon't do the church any good.
Let some bob haired Jezebel witha skirt about friends and above
her knees or one slit halfway upher leg.

(28:45):
It won't do her any good, and itwon't do the church any good,
and it won't do the cause of Godany good.
Let's go line.
Let the fires of holiness purifythe church again.

(29:19):
Someone said, Well, I thought itmight do them some good if we'd
give them a Sunday school class.
Maybe they might become morefaithful to the church.
Listen to me.
You may not understand whyBrother Strickler does some

(29:40):
things he does.
But I'm gonna tell you why hedoes them because there's some
Bible principles that cannot bechanged.
And one of the Bible principles,Brother Strickler, is this Jesus
said He that is unfaithful in alittle.

(30:01):
We'll be unfaithful in much.
Woo! And you say I don'tunderstand why they preaching
that tithe and stuff.
Because Jesus went on further tosay, if you cannot be trusted
with the unrighteous mammon,which is money, then who can
trust unto you the true riches?

(30:28):
If you can't pay your tithe, Godsays he cannot trust you with
his riches.
Amen.
Listen to me.
My God, if you can't make it tochurch on Tuesday and Friday,
and Saturday and Sunday, andevery week you're down there,
it's Tuesday's and Uncle Joe's.

(30:49):
Amen.
And every week you're down tothe beach somewhere.
Listen, you don't need a Sundayschool class.
You need an altar somewhere toget a hold of God.
You need somewhere to get prayedthrough at.

(31:40):
He was teaching my youngpeople's class.
I consider one of the mostimportant classes in my church.
Ever called.
Never bothered to say hewouldn't be there.
But all he was.
He's going to have a church.
Oh, my lord.

(32:01):
I wonder if that poor boy knowsone day he'll reap what he sows.
Woo! Huh?
Hit and miss.
Come a Sunday, miss or Sunday.
Never bother calling, nevermaking or telling why I can't
even be there.
And drag him the next service.
And if you was to dare sayanything to him about him, climb

(32:22):
up the myth tree and leave outand go some other place.
Come on here.
You ain't even saved.
I said you're not even saved.
You don't even have a sanctifiedspirit.
Come on here.
We're gonna have to be faithful.
Because the Bible said it isrequired of us, Steward, that he

(32:44):
be faithful.
Hallelujah.
Well, I got a little off of mymessage, but I'm not off of the
message any.
Woo! Hello here.
And the fires of holiness havejust about died out.

(33:04):
And many of our churches at onetime lifted up the bloodstained
banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What gets me is this.
Here's what gets me.
Here's folks will come to thosekind of churches.

SPEAKER_02 (33:23):
And they'll get around the ass.

SPEAKER_00 (33:34):
The message was dead in the last year's bird's nest.
The song service was dry as afodder shock.
Amen.
If anybody said amen, they'd allpassed out.
And I ought to had old BrotherNathan sing, I went to church in
an ice box Sunday.
Ought to hear that one, Ice FoxSunday.
Amen.

(33:58):
I'll tell you what, most ofthese churches.
If you went to them, yoursprings of living water would
freeze.
Amen.
Wow the ushers skated up anddown the aisles, kicking in the
cold cash.
I'll tell you what we need.
I'll tell you what we want.
I tell you what we're gonnahave.
It's an old-fashioned HolyGhost.

(34:23):
Heaven sent Pentecostal.
Hallelujah.
Fire of revival.
Hallelujah.
Sweep our souls and stir us andpurify us and revive us again.
And you'll see man.

(34:44):
Hallelujah.
We're gonna do one of twothings.
We're gonna do one of twothings, church.
We're either gonna guard theashes or we're gonna carry the
flame.

(35:06):
There's only one of two things.
We're either gonna carry theflame or guard the ashes.
Oh, let me preach on here just alittle more, please.
My God, can I preach a littlemore?
I've got some things I need tosay, Brother Strip.
Oh, he don't have a cut on thehotel.

(35:29):
Oh, God, start us and break usagain.
Hallelujah.
I found out in reading God'sholy word.
That in every generation God hadsomebody that carried a torch.

(35:58):
I won't go through all of themtonight.
But maybe I'll just mention acouple.
And I was thinking about thatold boy Samuel.
And the Bible said Eli had gotcold and corn.
His sons had defiled thesanctuary of God.

(36:23):
They had uh scoffed at thesacrifices of God.
They had done wickedly in thesanctuary.
They had committed adultery.
Not only that, they hadcommitted spiritual adultery.
They had gone into sacrificesand took out that which belonged

(36:46):
to God.
They had committed sacrilege.
They had defiled the holy thingsof God.
I want to stop right there justa minute.
And I want to tell you, childrenof God, we better be careful
about that sacrilege.
What is sacrilege, preacher?

(37:07):
I tell you what sacrilege is,letting your children mark on
the church peels.
What is sacrilege, preacher?
It's letting your children goback and tear up the bathrooms.
What is sacrilege preacher?
It's telling jokes in thesanctuary while we're trying to
have church.

(37:29):
What is sacrilege preacher?
It is making fun of men andwomen who are under the
influence of God Almighty.
While you sit back and scoff atthe mighty moving of the Holy
Ghost, it is sacrilege, it isdanger, it is death.

(37:49):
Oh God of heaven.
Sacrilege is defiling andabusing the sacred things of
God.
My God, I feel something inhere.

(38:19):
Why can't my children just playon the organ?
Because this belongs to God'shouse.
Why can't my children play onthe piano that belongs to God?
It's holy.
We use it in the worship of GodAlmighty.
Hallelujah.

(38:39):
Preacher, why can't my childrenrun all over the platform?
Because it is the place wherethe man of God stands and
preaches the holy word of God.
It's holy ground, if you please.
Sacrilege.

(39:01):
The defiling of the holy thing.
They commit a sacrilege.
They had committed adultery.
Right in the house of God.
I'm gonna tell you, right justright down the road from me at
the Culpepper Assembly of God.

(39:22):
So while I wouldn't call theirname, but don't you worry about
it.
I did.
I'll stand for it.
I had about four or five couplesright in the church a swapping
around.
I'm gonna tell you God set thepigs on adultery years ago, and

(39:42):
me or you or nobody else canchange them.
Jesus said Moses gave you riddleall of divorcement due to the
hardness of your hearts.
But I say it was not so from thebeginning.
And God told the pig, and nobodycan change it.

(40:06):
That's right.
Hallelujah.
And I'm gonna tell you, his sonshad defiled the house of God.
And Eli had become lazy.
And Eli had become unconcerned.
And the priest of God hadneglected the house of God.
And God had commanded him inLeviticus that the light was to

(40:31):
never go out in the sanctuary.
But that the candle and the firewas to burn continually.
Forever brother stricken!Forever it was to burn.
My God, let me tell yousomething.
God wants the fire, the revivalto burn, and roll it

(40:52):
continually.
Forever until he gets here,we've got an obligation to keep
the wood fired up and the stoveburning and revival falling.

(41:12):
It's to burn forever.
The Bible says air.
That simply means before.
Before the lamp of God went outin the temple.
God found him a Samuel.

unknown (41:32):
Woo! Ha ha!

SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Woo! Shaka Bohosukomahai! Hallelujah!
Before the light went out, Godspoke to Samuel.
And Samuel said, Here am I.
Speak the Lord for thy servantheareth.
Oh, hallelujah! Well, glory toGod.
I said, Hallelujah.
Amen.
And while Eli and his sons werebackfighting, amen, God was

(41:57):
raising up Samuel to lift up thetorch and the carry the fire and
the carry the banner and thecarry the word of God on his
generation.
Well, hallelujah.
I say God, give us some torchbear.

(42:23):
Brother Strickler?
I hope there's got many moreyears if Jesus should carry.
But if he carries, many moreyears, Brother Strickler, one
day you'll be gone.
And I want to know.

(42:45):
Will this church, huh?
Will you all?
Will there be some young womenand some young men and men of
God that will grab the torch?

(43:13):
Brother William Strickler heldthe banner high.
And we're gonna see that thetorch and the fire of holiness
and old time revival keepsburning in the road until Jesus
comes.

(43:38):
Amen.
Let me go on just a littlefurther than I'm gonna try to
close.
Read about another man, his namewas Elijah.
And Elijah's been called theprophet of fire.

(43:58):
And there he called down thefire upon the sacrifice.
How many of you with me?
Raise your hand.
Just give me a few more minutes.
Yeah, I'm gonna try to wind upand shut down.
Hallelujah.
Listen to me now.

(44:18):
And he was the prophet of fire.
And then on the mountain of God,he prayed that prayer and called
a fire down, which licked up allthe water, burned up all the
rocks, consumed all thesacrifice.
Oh, hallelujah.
Someone said, Well, amen, like apreacher somewhere oh well.

(44:40):
You know, I might have donebetter if it hadn't been smitty
wet blankets.
I'll tell you what I found out.
If I can get enough Holy Ghostfire, I can burn up the
blankets.
I can burn up the water that theenemy tries to pour on it, and
we can have a bible in the midstof some who want to dig their

(45:04):
heels in and stop the moving ofGod.
I burned the brakes off quite afew folks in my lifetime.
They sent him for a ride, andafter a while, I burned the shoe
heels off and got on down to thehigh until it got so hot they
had to lift them up, and we justkept on preaching.

SPEAKER_01 (45:26):
Come on!

SPEAKER_00 (45:27):
Woo! Hallelujah! And he called the fire down, took
the prophets down to the river,slew our everlasting one, the
rotten devils.
Went on the mouth and called therain down, outrun Ahab's chariot
20 miles to the gate of Jezreel.
I don't believe in runningElijah did.

(45:52):
I wish I had time to get intothat, but I won't tonight.
Lord, that's good just preachingabout that.
Oh Ahab of driving them oldArabian stallions, and they was
clipping along about 30 miles anhour when all of a sudden, from
out of nowhere, my God, theprophet of God passed him in
just reaching for third gear.

(46:25):
The Holy Ghost come on him, andhe will pass and have set and
said, I'll have the gate openwhen you get there.
Hallelujah.
Listen to me.

(46:46):
Somebody came up with this oldlame excuse.
You know, folks that alwaystrying to rationalize the Bible.
They're always trying to figureout some natural reason for some

(47:08):
supernatural act of God.
Somebody said, well, it wascustomary in those days to run
before the chariot.
Well, I'm gonna tell you what,folks, it took a right good man
to clip off 20 miles.

(47:32):
Woo! Brother P, I don't believeI could clip off 20 about right
now.
I really don't.
And that ain't all.
I don't think some of the restof you could either.
I might have a better chancethan some of you here.

(47:53):
Amen.
But I tell you what, I'm gonnatake it.
I believe he just flat outrunthem.
The Bible said he outrun them.
I said I believe he outrun them.
Hallelujah.
And run them to the gate.
The Holy Ghost come on him.
He became airborn in the spirit.

(48:15):
Well past his chariot.
Somebody say amen.
When he got to the gate ofJezreel, old Jezebel heard and
found out what had donehappened.
Out of all her little petprophets done been killed.

(48:36):
I'll tell you what, you go toslaying down on the devil and
his crowd, and I'll tell youthey'll get hot.
I mean they'll get hot.
You get to talking about oldswagger, folks will just get
puffed up like an old blowtoad.
You talk about old Jimmy Bakerand Tammy Faye?

(48:58):
I'll call her Tammy Bay Faker.
That's what she was.
That backslid Jezebel lookedlike a harlot if they ever was
one.
I believe she was a harlot.
Huh?

(49:19):
And old gentle Jim.
He needs a swift kick in hisseat.
Hallelujah.
Come on here.
Come on now.
An old Jimmy Swaggertonbackslid, what was her name?
Uh uh his sweet wife's Frances,yes.

(49:40):
Oh Bob Harry Frances with herlizard-looking eyes.
Come on here.
And a bunch of backslidPentecostal folks.
Amen.
Send of money, wouldn't pay thetithe to the home church,
wouldn't get behind the man ofGod living the gospel.
Amen.
God word if he got a new suit ora pair of shoes or a car.

(50:03):
And didn't mind Jimmy living ina million-dollar suite.
Traveling in cotton littles.
Come on here.
Flying around in jets and hiswife having$40,000 deaths.
Oh, come on.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
Oh, don't mention him.

(50:25):
Well, I'm gonna tell yousomething.
I'll mention him.
Oh Lord.
Was another woman loved him toowhere he thought she did.
Help me, Lord.
Y'all gonna stay with me until Iget done?

(50:46):
Hallelujah.
Now listen to me.
Jezebel got hot.
Oh, she got some stewed up.
She said, So do the guts to bein the heart.

(51:09):
If I make not just like this oneat those by tomorrow, I've got
this tie.
She battered her fake eye ashes,clattered her tiny looking junk,
five and ten fingernails she'dglued on.
Huh?

(51:29):
Come on now.
My God, they said someone, uh,this was just an old worldly
reporter, said when Tammy BayFaker landed down there in
Charlottesville and she wentback there to whatever that
place was that got heritage USAfor the first time, and said she
knelt down and kissed theground.
Said took the crews all day toclean the makeup up.

(51:53):
That's what one worldly reportersaid.
But I wouldn't be afraid to sayit either.

(52:17):
Somebody say amen.
Come on.
She said, I'm I'm gonna killhim.
That's it, that's the holy.
And that prophet of God, thatprophet of fire, he got
shivering in his boots.
And Lord, he headed for thecliffs and the mountains.

(52:39):
And he went there to beershebaand crawled up under a juniper
tree, and the Bible said wishedfor himself that he might die.
Oh Lord, just kill me now.
Well, the Lord came by, sent anangel by, said, Get up here,

(53:02):
boy, get up here, get up here.
And I'll tell you the angel ofthe Lord set a big meal before
him and said, Arise and eat.
For the journey is too great foryou.
He gobbled up all that food andfell back down, went to sleep
again.
My God, some of you we done wokeup so many times, you know, went

(53:25):
to sleep so many times, we justabout done decided to let you
sleep a little bit.
Fell on back into another sleepand just went to dream about how
he was still just died.
Angel God woke him up again,said Arise and eat.
Because the journey's too greatfor you.
Listen to me.

(53:45):
I'm coming if I've got any creamof the crop, I'm coming to it.
And he rose and ate again.
Now listen to me.
God intended for him to go rightback.
Right back to Jezreel.

(54:07):
Right back to Israel.
And just stand his ground.
But instead, Brother WilliamStrickler, he went forty days
farther into the wilderness andcrawled up in a cave.

(54:33):
Crawled up in a cave, and said,Oh God, it is enough now that I
should die.
They slayed the prophets, healeddown nine altars, and I'm left
alone.

(54:55):
And oh Jezebel said, She's gonnakill me.
And so the Spirit of the Lordcame by, and the voice of God
spoke to him and said, Elijah,come out of the cave.

(55:21):
Elijah come out.
I believe his boss yesterday wasworking behind the tree
somewhere.
Come on! Come out, look around.
And about the time he stoodthere, the mountain began to

(55:51):
shake.

unknown (55:51):
Come on, come on.

SPEAKER_00 (55:52):
Stay with me now.
Stay with me here.
The whole mountain began totremble.
And when the mountain got donequaking, and then a great wind
of God came.
My God took that whole mountain.

(56:16):
And after that, the Bible said,fire fell from heaven.
Woo! Come on now.
And then the Bible said afterthat, a still small voice.
Now I want you, I want to giveyou something that God gave to

(56:40):
me.
I didn't get this from a book.
I'm telling you, God gave thisto me.
I'm not saying he had nevergiven it to nobody else, but as
far as I know, he's uh he gaveit to me.
And I thanked him for it, and Ipromised him I'd tell others
when I got a chance.

(57:00):
Brother William Strickler.
His old dead heads and dry headsalways went to the scripture and
leaning in on that still smallvoice.
He was not in the fire.

(57:22):
He wasn't in the fire.
Huh?
Come on now.
He wasn't in the wind.
He wasn't in the earthquake, sothat's just quit shouting.
And they called any fire, wildfire.

(57:42):
I got one dear old soul in mychurch.
I love the poor man.
He's a good man, he really is.
I'm gonna tell you, folks, getto shouting, and the power of
God gets to fall, and you'll seehim over there in a seat.
Only kind of moving of God hethinks, you have to just cry all

(58:06):
the time.
Thank God I like to cry.
When I first come in, I feltthat weeping spirit in this
church.
But I'm glad to goodness after awhile, then they got to singing
that other one anyway.
You fix it.
And I felt that shout a littlebit.

(58:29):
And so all that they ever gotout of God's demonstrations of
power was a still small voice.
And I never could hook up tothat.

SPEAKER_01 (58:41):
Come on, tell us.

SPEAKER_00 (58:43):
So one day while I was praying and meditating on
this, why the Lord revealed tome why he sent an earthquake.
And why he sent a wind, and whyhe sent a fire.
Do you know why or what the Lordtold me?

(59:04):
He said I sent the wind.
I sent the earthquake and I sentthe fire because I wanted to
Elijah to know that while he washere in the cave, ha ha, whoo,
glory to God! Well he was creptback in his cave.

(59:25):
I had the power to shake thatmountain down to the size of a
chocolate drop.
And while he was crept back inhis cave, I wanted to know I had
the power with my wind to blowthat mountain out into the midst

(59:48):
of the sea.
And while he was crept back inthat cave, I wanted to know that
I still had the fire that fellat Mount Carmen.
Oh, hallelujah! Woo! Well, nowlet me finish up, and I'm almost

(01:00:10):
done now.
Oh, Gory.
You listen to me.
I don't care how many die hidesand dry hides and dead eyes.
That there is I want to tellyou, Amen.
God still got the wind that heblew at Pentecost.
He still got the fire that fellon Pentecost.
He still got the power.

(01:00:32):
Amen.
Shake this world and shake thischurch.
Come out of your cave.
Come out of hiding.
I tell your God's still on thethrone.

(01:00:52):
Don't you know?
Having seen the demonstration ofGod's power, Elijah crawled back
in the cave.
And started that old sing songstory again.

(01:01:13):
They beat down I know.
They've slain I prophets.
And I'm left alone.
And they sing the right.
Now listen to me.
Oh, hear me now with you.

(01:01:39):
So God said to Elijah, okay,Elijah.
Okay, Elijah, if all you'regonna do is spend the rest of
your life head back in the cave.
If all you're gonna do, Elijah,is guard the ashes.

(01:02:06):
If all you're gonna do is hideand wish you could die, and he
said, I want you to anoint.
I want you to anoint Jehu to bethe king.
And away he have his place.
Huh?
And I want you to anoint Heel tobe king over Syria.

(01:02:32):
And those that escaped the swordof Hazel, Jehu's gonna slay.
And those that escaped the swordof Jehu, Hazel's gonna slay.
Because God said, I want you toremember, Elijah, that I've
already promised I was gonnatake care of Jezebel.
And the dogs were gonna lick herblood.

(01:02:54):
Come on now.
I already promised that I wasgonna take care of Ahab for what
he did to Nabor.
Amen.
I already got everything incontrol.
I've already promised to takecare of those that rose against

(01:03:14):
you.
But since you want to stay inthe cave, he said in here, now
listen to me.
And he said, I want you toanoint Elisha to be prophet in
your stead.
Because if you're gonna guardthe ashes Elijah, I gotta have

(01:03:35):
somebody who's gonna carry thetorch.
Oh, listen, if you're gonnaguard the ashes, I gotta have a

(01:03:55):
man that's gonna carry thetorch.
And then God put a littlepostscript at the end of it.
You know what that means.
That's the things you forgot tosay, or that's the last little
thing you wanted to say at theend of the letter.
You done sign the letter and putyour name on the end of it, but
then right down in the left-handcorner you put P.S.

(01:04:21):
And God put the postscript onit.
And here's what he said, by theinstructor.
He said, But I just want you toknow.
Just thought I'd tell you,Elijah, that I've got seven
thousand.

(01:04:43):
I've got seven thousand thathave not bowed their knees to
Baal and have not kissed hisfeet.
Oh my God, my God, my God, myGod.

(01:05:04):
If we don't want to have a