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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 448 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text --Brother Jim Easterly: I just had a really strange thing happen to me there and it's something that's never happened to me before in my life. I believe with all my heart that the Lord is here this morning. I don't believe that His arm is shortened, that He cannot save. I believe that He is absolutely the source of and all power in this world, in this earth, in heaven, in the universe. It was a vision and I've never had this happen before. It was like you could...we were in a place and there was just multitudes of people--just zillions of people. And it just all of a sudden, just like that it began to grow dark. It didn't grow black to where you couldn't see, but it grew so dark that you couldn't really see clearly. And I mean everybody was terrified--I mean everybody. There wasn't a spirit, a soul, a body, a human being in that place that wasn't terrified. Everybody was scrambling around. There were rocks and it was a rough place and people were stumbling and screaming and crying out. There was a place where there was like a light coming in from the outside. It was just like almost a crack. It didn't light the whole place up, but it was intense. And everybody in that place knew instantly that that light, if they couldn't get to it they were going to be destroyed. I mean there was panic-there was terror. You talk about desperation. Everybody knew--I mean they knew there wasn't any arguing about it. Nobody had to explain it. You knew if you didn't get to that light, you were going to be destroyed. Everybody scrambled and did everything they could do to get to that light. In that instant, your IRA didn't matter, your 401-K didn't matter, your houses didn't matter, your job didn't matter. I'm gonna tell you this, it was such a desperate time that even your wives and your husbands and your children didn't matter. You knew personally--you had to get to that light, and if you couldn't get there somehow, you were going to be destroyed. Then there was also an awareness that you could not take yourself to that light. It didn't matter what you had done or hadn't done or anything else. You couldn't get to it. And everybody was scrambling every which-a-way. There was one little fellow that got up on kind of a rock. And out of that light this robed arm came down and it just took him. And everybody knew if they weren't in Him, that they were destroyed. I believe this morning with all my heart that God, who is not willing that any should perish, is extending His arm to some in this building. And I don't care if you've been here a week or you were born here. God wants you to be born again, and that's all. We're coming to a time where that's all that's gonna matter--nothing else is gonna matter. That's why Jesus came to this earth. You know, He could have healed every physical thing wrong with us. He could have fixed it so that His people could be set apart and had big time jobs and money and houses and lands and lived in peace here, but He didn't do that. He did the most important thing that's ever been done. He made a way for you to get to that light--made a way, the only way for human beings to be reconciled to God Almighty. I believe He's extending His hand this morning to do that. And He says in His book in John 6, He says, "I will raise him up at the last day." That's all that really counts--that's all that really counts. None of this other stuff really counts. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." That's a two-edged sword. It means ours won't be any worse than anybody else's, but we won't escape a lot of them that everybody goes through either. In that day, that's all that's gonna matter. I believe this morning--I really believe that this morning, God is extending His hand to people here. -- Brother Dwight Rhodes: I don't even know if I can get out what I want to say. I had a sense this morning when I got up when I turned on a tape at the house and I was listening to some of the songs. I had the same feeling that Jim had. There was such a sense of urgency today. Thinking about some of the things that have been going on and how it affects us. I just had a longing, a desire for just to be right where He wants us to be. I was just drawn and I was broken in my spirit. When Jim said what he said, I said, "God I want you more than I want anything. And I want you for your people, the things to minister to us somehow to bring a peace and a rest." I don't know, I just felt like there's a drawing today for some. I went to thinking about my kids and my wife, myself, all of us. We need God more than we need anything else. I believe what Jim said there was true, that we haven't got many more days--if it's a hundred years or ten minutes, I mean I don't know. But I believe it's...the scripture came to me this morning, it said, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Oh God, I just...if we can't hear the church, who can we hear, who are we gonna listen to? Who? God's not gonna come down and speak to you, I mean, you know just...I used to tell Matthew when we were having some of our problems. I said, Matthew, God ain't gonna just drop down and make it right, just like that. You've got to...it's got to be personal. It's got to be something that draws you from in here, and it's God. I believe He's doing that today. I don't know, I hope this is making sense. But I just felt such a sense that we need God and I want Him right now more than anything else. It doesn't matter to me about nothing else. My heart goes out to some. I just sense a laxness, and unconcernedness. It concerns me. I just appreciate what you said Jim. I believe it didn't come from Jim. -- Brother Jim Johnson: I do believe with all my heart that the hour we live in is the last days. I think it's a serious mistake to put all your eggs in a basket that's out in the future a way out there somewhere 10, 20 years down the road. I believe you're making a real serious mistake when you do that. I believe you need to be storing up treasures in heaven. I need to be storing up treasures. I ain't talking about just you, I do. I need to be storing, because that's the place that counts. This scripture did come to my mind and I gonna read it. It's in chapter 14 of St. John. This scripture, the first verse reads, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." That's a wonderful promise, and I believe that's to us--to us that know Him. And I do believe there is a place for every one of us. I don't believe all our places are going to be the same, I can see some of ya'll living in great big mansions. I can see myself back in some small little old cottage, but that's good enough for me. I'm tickled to death just to have a hope of being there. Maybe I can drop in on you and visit you once in a while in your mansion. Praise God! I do believe I've got a place over there. I thank God for that. I don't deserve it. Lord knows I don't. It's just by His grace. "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." -- Brother Tony Talbert: I'll be real brief. I appreciate what's been said here this morning. I do likewise feel like this is a late hour. I believe...you know I just thought about the supper that was made there and they bade a few choice people around. They all--one of them had to get married, he wanted to get married, and one of them wanted to...it was all excuses is all it was. They had plenty of excuses. The opportunity for them was never offered again after they refused it. Then he went to the next group of people. He went out to the streets and lanes, but still within the city. They went out to the streets and lanes within that city to compel people to come in--to beg them to come in, that his house may be filled, and they still had plenty of room. And those people, once they were offered and they refused were never offered again. They never had opportunity to come in again. And then the last group, he said he goes out into the highways and the hedges and compel the people to come in. It wasn't just a "give them an invitation." Compel them. I feel like it was an urgency at that point in time, that there was a lateness of the hour. It was time for the supper. It was ready. And at that point in time the need was to compel people, not just to say we have an invitation. Do you want it? But it was to say you need to come in. If you want to come in, if you're gonna come in, you need to come in. Because otherwise the offering is not going to be given you any more. And then I thought about this scripture here. It's in Matthew 17 verse 24. You know our life is, as James says, is but a vapor. It appears for a short time--very short. Man, he exalts this life as being something that's absolutely just...almost like we're immortal, you know. And then you go through and it ain't very long before you start getting older and you start getting infirmed, and you realize that what you thought you had was all just a fallacy. It's like a mirage out in the desert. It's nothing there. It's just what you see in...verse 24 it says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." They ain't no other chance after that. "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." I don't want to paint no pretty picture as far as your flesh goes. It's got to die. The Word says, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." It also speaks in that same scripture and says, that where the Lord's at, "there shall also my servant be." There's a need for us to count the cost. This is an open invitation. The Lord doesn't have clenched fists. He has His open hands, but there is a price to pay to come and to be His child, and that is you have to lose your own soul. You've got to lose your own life. And the way that you want to go no longer means anything. You die out to be a sheep that's part of a fold and the shepherd's there, and you learn to trust Him. You learn to realize that He's gonna lead you where there's water flowing all the time, where there's green grass. In spite of the fact that, in other words, what I'm saying is, there's a place there that we have. Those that have come to that rest know that it's a lot better off being in His will than it is in serving our own flesh, but that's a cost that has to be paid before we're ever come to this kingdom. Praise God! -- Brother Jimmy Robbins: I believe what Brother Jim saw this morning was real and I believe that we're living in that day and time that it's going to come to pass. Joel chapter 2, verse 1. This is speaking of the judgment of God. I'll read several verses, comment very little. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. "The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?" Here's a command. "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet." I won't continue to read, but it also mentions, "Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar." If there's ever a time to weep and seek God it's now, beloved. We're living in a dark time. We're living in a Sodom and Gomorrah. Turn over to Genesis chapter 19. I tell you, we're living at the very brink of when the Lord shall come again. I believe it with all my heart. This darkness that Brother Jim spoke about, it's not just the absence of light. There's darkness--spiritual darkness--covering this whole earth. "Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." There are people right now that would look you eyeball to eyeball and say your God is a fairy tale, that hell doesn't exist, and that there's no help anywhere. You've got to live your own life. You've got to do your own thing. Be your own God. What feels good, do it. And every man is right in his own eyes and don't impose your morality upon me, because I have my own set of values. That's the world, beloved. That's darkness. That's perversion. That's reprobation. But we have a Christ, we have a Lord, we have a God that's with us. He's given us light and I thank God for that. Brother Thomas has preached many times concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. I won't go into the gory details of it, but Lot's righteous soul was vexed day unto day. I don't want to live in Sodom, beloved. I want to be with God's people, I want to live with Him and with the ones that love Him. That's where I want to be. He went the wrong way. There was such perversion there. God told Abraham I'm gonna burn it up. And he prayed, if there's 50 would you save it? If there's 40 would you save it? Yeah, I'd save it. 30? 20? 10? Yeah I'll even save it if there's 10. Beloved there's just a handful of people that can even hear the gospel, let alone receive it. God help us all. We are blessed to be here today. This is a blessing of God for us to be here today. Those angels came to get Lot, and those wicked men saw them go inside the house. Men lusting after men, But verse 12, "And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place." God's calling us out beloved. "For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law." This is no joke beloved. "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened." It's time to get ready. They "hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered..." Isn't that something--lingered. My God, there's no time to linger beloved. It's time to get down to business. "The men laid hold upon his hand." Isn't that something? They had to take hold of him. "And upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." I want to go back over to verse 26. "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Beloved, God's getting us out of this world. It's a dark place and this world is not our home. We're pilgrims and we're strangers. It's a dark place, but I thank God this morning for the light that's here. I believe there's a warning here today. I believe God is giving us another opportunity. I believe the angel of the Lord is here. I believe the holy angels are here, and I believe that they're trying to take us by the hand and say, let's get ready. The fire is gonna fall. And when they went out of that city, the fire fell and burned that wicked place up. This earth is ready for the fire. There's nothing else gotta happen. It's tinder, it's dry, and it's combustible. It's like a giant ball of yarn Brother Thomas described one time. And He's got the match right on the box and He's about ready to strike the match. Do you want to stay here just a little linger and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? No sir. I'd rather suffer the affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of a season. Romans 12 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." That's what's got to happen beloved. God's going to have to renew our mind and give us a new heart. He can do that. He can do that. "That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Do you stand in doubt this morning, where you citizenship is? Is it in the world or is it in the family of God? God help you. God help you because there's no future in this world. I just want to join my spirit with these other men. I don't have any magic words, but I do feel that it is a late hour. I believe it's dark. And I'm willing by the grace of God--by His grace--to put all my eggs, Brother Jim, in this basket. And I have no doubt and no fear that my Lord won't save me from this fire. I'm not gonna put part of my eggs over here just in case this don't work out. You can't serve God and mammon. I'm gonna put all my eggs in Jesus Christ. He's my hope. He's my strength. He's my salvation. And as Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." 
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