The Mantle of Elijah - Part 3 — David Wilkerson

The Unpardonable Sin and the Mocking of the Holy Spirit

Life had been touched in such a powerful way. You see, these children had committed an unpardonable sin. You see, they knew. They had been told by their parents. Their parents had mocked it and ridiculed it and made fun of it.

The story of the work of the Holy Spirit. That was the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit to take Elijah. And now they are mocking the work of the Holy Spirit. That's an unpardonable sin. And you see, God had sent prophets to Bethel.

He had sent all kinds of prophets. Now, folks, there are 50 young men there. And I wonder what would have happened if those young men, instead of just staying in their church studying theology, I don't know if they made an effort at all to warn those kids, you keep up the way you're going and you're going to pay a price.

Did they ever go to the parents and say, look what's happening to our city? I don't know what they tried, but I know what they're trying today in the church. I know what young prophets are trying to do to try to reach them.

They're bringing the very music into the church that caused them to rebel. They are having rock and roll concerts. They're letting them dress like demons. They're going out as young men and taking polls to find out what a rebellious society would like to see in the way of a church to seduce them to come in.

Judgment, Mercy, and the Prophetic Watchman

And folks, when God has dealt and dealt and dealt with his society, he sent pastors and preachers. He's preached mercy. He's preached grace. There comes a time, if you know your scripture, that God says enough, enough.

And then he says, I have to have men full of the Holy Ghost that are not afraid to proclaim judgment upon their society. This was the message of judgment that came out of a merciful soul. That was the work of the Holy Ghost.

Folks, we've been warning and warning and warning, and I'm at the place now. I honestly don't care. I'm not a prophet. I've said that a million, a thousand times. But I am one of his watchmen. And one thing I am sure of, I'm in touch with what I call this Elisha Company, all over the United States, out of the hundreds of thousands on my mailing list.

And folks, I'm in touch with the Holy Remnant, and so is Pastor Carter. And we're in touch with people shut in with God. This Elisha Company that are not satisfied. This Elisha Company that knows that God's going to do a new thing in the last day, along with judgment and through judgment, he's going to have mercy.

His very judgment will be an act of mercy to save a society from going absolutely over the brink into hell. I can assure you of one thing, that everyone that I know that's been shut in with God, everyone that's seeking God and for this double portion of the Holy Ghost, they're all hearing the same thing.

Judgment is at the door. Judgment is at the door. He returned to preach and to show the awesome judgments of God. They're about to fall. I don't know how close we are. The stock market this past week has dropped a thousand points.

I don't know how close we are, but it's right at the door. That's what I hear. And that is confirmed by people from all of the United States shut in with God. They hear the same thing. The Lord is speaking and warning very, very powerfully.

And Pastor Carter told me that he was told by believers over in Kosovo and Macedonia that the Holy Ghost had warned that judgment was coming. They were clearly warned. He has warned us. Let me tell you now in closing what I get out of this story and what it means to me.

Seeking God for the Double Portion

It means this. I have told God the same thing that Elisha told Elijah, but I've made it even stronger. I've said, God, I've set my heart, and this happened in an incredible way just a few years ago. I set my heart to seek God, and I looked in the face of my heavenly Father and said, I will not let you go.

I'm going to seek you. I'm going to fast and pray, not for any merit, not for any good thing in me, but I have to have more than I've ever had. I don't have enough of what I need of your Holy Spirit. I want more of your Spirit, and I want more of your Holy Ghost authority, not to curse people, not to hurt people, but to stand against the devils that are in them and take authority in Jesus' name.

I want that with all my heart, but at the same time, I'll preach mercy, I'll preach grace, but I'm not going to be a wimp facing this in-your-face generation. God has not called us to be wimps. He's told you, and He's told me, if you have the Holy Ghost on you, you're going to tell the whole world, you're going to tell your neighbors, you're going to warn everybody, judgment is at the door.

Condemning Cultural Blasphemy and Proclaiming Judgment

You think right now, right here in our museums, right now the mayor of this city is trying to shut down this terrible, called art show in one of our museums, sponsored by our tax money. A picture of the Virgin Mary splattered with elephant dung.

And another museum just up the road here, they have there, it looks like it's going to be a permanent display, and it's the cross of Jesus Christ in a vat of urine, and it says, Urinate Christ. That's the title.

I gave you the gentle word. Think of the militant homosexuals who march up and down with their signs, Christ was gay. You think of where our society is going now, and there has to be something rising up in you that the Holy Ghost is telling you, and that you have to announce, God said enough.

And one of these days soon, God is going to smite. The man who created the cross in a vat of urine was stricken with AIDS and died in his 40s. You watch the judgments of God begin to fall. Folks, I don't know if you see what I see.

I see hurricanes coming, and I see floods everywhere, and bugs, mosquitoes with encephalitis here in New York City for the first time, and you see things happening all over the United States. Don't you say God's doing something?

God's trying to speak? God's trying to say something to this nation? And yet I hear preachers say, oh, God's going to bless America. God has great things ahead. He does for the church, yes, but for a godless society, no.

The she-bears are coming from the woods. God, raise up some pastors who are not wimps concerning this wickedness in this last day, not afraid to stand up and proclaim the awesome judgments of God, not out of wrath, not out of judgment, but out of the love of Christ for a lost generation.

The Holy Ghost Anointing for Evangelism

Will you stand? How many confess that you need more of the Holy Ghost? Raise your hand, please. You say, oh, I've been baptized in the Holy Ghost. Are you walking in the Spirit? Are you moving in the ways and the works of the Holy Spirit?

Listen to me in closing. If you go to Times Square Church, you've been here months or years, you've been fed and fed and fed. You ought to be able to go to your neighbors or anybody on the job that's sick.

You could carry a little bottle of oil if you want, or you can just believe God and speak the word. Every single one in this church needs to be an evangelist. You don't need papers. You don't need ordinations or license.

All you need is a hunger for a greater anointing of the Holy Ghost on your life. I'm not talking about the anointing some people call the anointing for more money and for riches and things like that or to be able to go out and read people's minds.

No, I'm talking about the anointing that produces godliness in you and produces purity and holiness of Jesus so that you can speak a pure word that gives life and it doesn't produce death because death produces death.

Oh, no, no, no, you should be praying for the sick. You need to be every place on the subways and in the bus. You need to turn to one on the right or the left. If all you can say is, do you go to church?

I know a good church. And all you do is hand out a card. Whatever you do to strike a conversation on the job, wherever you are, as you walk in these streets, do as I do, do as Pastor does. I pray and I weep over this city.

I cry and pray and say, Lord, lead me to somebody that's hungry now. But more and more, God is saying, hear me, please. I've given you the Holy Ghost for a purpose, to go back over the Jordan, back to this deadness, and back to this and make changes.

God, help us never to just come into this church and soak it in because those waters soon get stagnant. That's why we have to stir them up. If you've ever seen a pond with all the junk on it, rains come and the flood comes and pushes all the junk over the dam.

Repentance, Holiness, and Spiritual Renewal

We need another outpouring of the Holy Ghost because we've never seen Father. I thank you for truth that sets us free. Lord, I want to hear, and I know you want to hear from many, many people here that have to acknowledge, I wanted to go further.

I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to know more intimacy with Christ. I wanted to walk more fully in the power and unction of the Holy Ghost, but somehow I got stopped. Somehow I'm not moving ahead anymore.

I'm not growing. I don't know what happened, but I've slipped back. I'm not making progress. I'm not growing. There's some kind of death that's crept into my life. Oh, God, in Jesus' name, change things today.

Holy Spirit, come forth with new vessels full of salt. Hallelujah. Sanctify us. Purge us that the savor of Christ may come forth from our hearts and our lives. If you're here in this main auditorium and I'm speaking, those that are in the annexes and the other auditoriums watching on the jumbotrons, Holy Ghost doesn't bring a message like this just to intrigue you.

And it's not for you to go home and say, well, that was interesting or that was different. No, no, no. He's trying to teach you and He's trying to teach me something. God has something far beyond what you've had or experienced.

If you're satisfied with what you have, God help you. There ought to be a cry in your heart right now, oh, God, I'm so far from what I want to be in you. There's so much more that I need. If you have an unsaved family, husband, wife, or children, it's evident things haven't changed, so it's evident that you need more of His power and more of His anointing in your life and a closer walk with Jesus.

The Call to Come Forward and Seek God

If God's dealt with you this morning, in the annex, I want you to go not to the screen, but between the screens. Just step forward in between the screens. The pastor will be there and take you into another room and pray with you.

Here in the main auditorium, come forward. Only as the Holy Spirit moves, we're going to ask God to do a new thing in your life. If you're unsaved, if you're not right with God, if you're backslidden, join these that are coming.

And in the annex, the same. In all the rooms, just go between the screens. Just step forward right now. And up in the balcony, go on stairs on either side and come down any aisle. Please move in close to make room for those that are coming, if you will, please.

God's going to do a new thing in many lives here now. You can still come while I'm talking. Here's what I want to say to you in closing. And listen closely, because here's the key. After He went to Jericho, then to Bethel, the Bible says in the last verse, and He went from Thentz to Mount Carmel.

Mount Carmel and the Priority of God's Presence

Why would He go to Mount Carmel? He went there to say, Holy Spirit, thank you for the miracles. Thank you for the work you're doing in my heart. Thank you for using me to raise the spiritually dead. But, oh God, more than anything else, I want you.

He went to Mount Carmel to shut Himself in with God. Because, you see, even after the miracles and after God answering prayer, He said, Lord, it's all about you. I just want to be with you. And if that's in your heart.

He didn't come here just to see miracles. He didn't come here just to have your Red Sea open or your Jordan crossed. That all is a part of it. This great new thing He wants to do, a fresh new work in your heart.

But there's to be something in your heart that says, above all of that, oh God, I want to be a man or woman of prayer. I want to continue seeking your face. So much so that if I don't even see a miracle, if I didn't see anything, I know I have a place with you.

You have your Mount Carmel that you can escape to, that you can go to. He went to the very place where the fire once fell. He went back to where Elijah had seen miracles. But now there are no miracles, just a man on his knees, worshiping.

Oh God, bring us to that place. God, we have a whole nation that when I preach about miracles and we talk about miracles, that's all they want. They want signs, wonders, and miracles. Lord, we'll get our signs and wonders and miracles because you want to do for us exceeding, abundant above all we could ask or think.

But oh God, more than anything else, you're trying to draw us to yourself. You give us the Holy Ghost to walk in the Spirit, but that walk in the Spirit is directly into your presence first. The Holy Spirit will always lead us to Carmel to pray and seek the face of God.

A Prayer for Holiness, Cleansing, and Gospel Witness

Will you pray this prayer with me? Jesus, I want you more than I want your gifts. I want you more than miracles. I want you more than anything in my life. Draw me closer to you. Forgive me for being so busy and preoccupied with the things in my own life.

Now Jesus, cleanse me. Forgive me. Pour in the salt of your holiness into my heart and cleanse the stream that comes out of my mouth and out of my heart that'll be pure and righteous and holy because of the blood sprinkled on my heart because I believe you, Lord, that you've given me the Holy Ghost.

You've put the Holy Spirit in me to love the world, to minister to the lost. Father, forgive me if I have been selfish and kept all of this to myself. Open the doors for me, Lord, to witness for you. Give me the power of the Holy Ghost and authority of the Holy Spirit to speak the word and to know that God will work with me.

Now raise your hands and just thank him now. Just give him thanks. Lord, I thank you. I give you thanks. What a faithful God. God is faithful, loving, kind, merciful. Hallelujah. Before we close this service, I want to know how many...

Signs of the Times and Redemption at the Door

I can't see those in the annex, but those here in the main auditorium, how many of you who've been praying sense the same thing that I've been sensing that we are... If it's not Y2K in just a few months, how many of you sense that everything is shaking and that it's about to happen, the judgments of God?

What more are all of these things that are happening so fast now all over? He said when you see these things begin to happen, look up. Get your eyes off of all these things. And what? Rejoice. What's it say?

Rejoice. Because your redemption is at the door also. Hallelujah. Redemption is at the door.