Four Musts or the Secret of a Christian Life — Leonard Ravenhill

We beings in heaven cease not to cry day and night, holy, holy, holy. We're glad, Lord, that you remember our frames and remember that we're dust. We have to stop to eat. We have to stop to sleep. We have to stop to do our other duties.

We thank you, Lord, that those creatures of pansy don't need to eat or sleep. They have incessantly, eternally, the awesome privilege and task of giving you adoration. I'm sure, Lord, with voices that we've never dreamed of, so beautiful, so excellent, every one of them as perfect as perfection can be, not as we bow before you tonight.

We remember your word talks of our Lord Jesus Christ as being the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Even the cherubim veiled their faces before thee. They couldn't bear the scrutiny of those holy eyes, which is a frame of fire.

They covered their eyes. They couldn't gaze on your majesty. Lord, we ask you to unveil yourself to us. Lord, we need to see into eternity. We're so earth-conscious, so time-conscious, so possession-conscious, so position-conscious.

Lord, we live in a world that's sordidly tied to materialism. It believes only in what it can eat, and touch, and smell, and see, and feel. But Lord, we thank you, you've moved us into another dimension.

We bless you, you've awakened us. We too are dead in trespasses and in sins. Not just bad, but dead. Without God, without hope. Lord God, how did you see anything in us? You didn't see anything in us.

You saw our need, and that broke your heart. You left the glory out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe. This world of incredible corruption. It seems to corrupt more and more every hour. This corruption puts on more corruption.

This lying system puts on more lying. This deception puts on more deception. This cruelty puts on more cruelty. This hatred of God puts on more hatred. But Lord, we bless you, you do have a remnant who will love you tonight.

We love you, as the Hebrides says, for wearing the thorns on thy brow. We love you for gathering us from the outcasts. We were not even of Israel. We would have fired off without God, without hope. We thank you that one eye that pitied us, one heart that loved us, one arm long enough to reach us, and one awesome act of mercy.

Lord, I've thought so much about verse we sing so often, and maybe lightly. Mercy there was great, and grace was free. Lord, if we had to bite, we couldn't bite. If we had the ransom, if we had the money of a million kings.

But we thank mercy was free. We thank you took us out of the bondage from priestcraft. We thank you one day you released your Holy Word out of the Latin tongue, out of the Greek tongue, and put it into our mother tongue.

We bless you for this love letter from Heaven that tells us of the Savior who came for us, died for us, rose for us, ascended for us, lives for us tonight, making intercession, otherwise we would have no confidence to come.

We thank you we don't need the smell of bleeding beasts and a roasting flesh on an altar with some dignified priest to take us through a performance. As the hymn writer says, Wesley, I think, said, he ever lives above for me to intercede, his all-redeeming love, his precious blood to plead.

With confidence I now draw nigh, and Father, our Father, cry. I don't remember, Lord, that even Abraham ever called you Father, nor the great Psalmist, though he gets to almost into eternity, when he sees the majesty of Jesus and says, lift up your heads, O ye gates.

Lord, we're going to see some gates one day beyond anything that man has ever dreamed of, and they're going to swing outward, and all the ransomed host will sing. Lord, as we sang just now, all the earth shall praise thy name in earth or sky or sea.

Remember the last psalmist says, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. And then Revelation 5 says that everything that had breath, in the air, in the sea, under the sea, or on the land. Lord, we think when you make everything in creation, thank you for creating it.

One day you're going to do that. One day we're going to hear something more than a million hallelujah choruses, and every creature, even these obnoxious mosquitoes and things we don't like, use everything that hath breath in it.

The things under the sea will rise and shout their hallelujah. The beasts of the field will groan or shout their doxologies, and everybody will fall down in adoration. Lord, we bless you that one day every knee shall bow.

Many will take the name of Jesus in vain today, used it as a curse word, as profanity. Yet, Lord, one day they're going to bow the knee. Every king that ever lived, every ruler, every potentate, every pope, every priest, every patriarch, every peasant, everybody one day will bow the knee.

No wonder we sing sometimes, or try to sing, Lord, then in a nobler, sweeter song, we'll sing thy power to save, when these poor lisping, stammering tongues shout victory o 'er the grave. We thank you, Lord, that death is going to have acknowledged you.

We bless you, you have the keys of hell and of death. You are the resurrection, you are the life. This poor, dumb, stupid world thinks it's got rid of you, and it's yet to meet you. Meet you in a splendor, in a glory it doesn't know a thing about.

Lord, it seems tonight to me, your church should have on a wedding dress, but tonight it seems it's in rags. The rags of hypocrisy, the rags of prayerlessness, the rags of indifference, the rags of passionlessness.

Lord, we ought to be the most buoyant people on God's earth. At least we should be in ecstasy because of what you've done for us, and for what you're going to do for us. Not just in eternity, but before we get to heaven.

Lord, we believe you'll still break through this poor, sin-bound, blind, harassed world in which we live, and raise your church up yet just one more visitation, before you pour out your wrath, pour out your mercy.

Lord, we thank you for this holy word tonight. We thank you for holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Lord, help us in our own devotions, in our rooms, may we be moved by that same spirit that wrote this word.

Move us, Lord. Move us to new heights of adoration. Move us into new depths of worship. Move us into new breaths of vision. Lord, save us, save me, save us from stagnation. Lord, save us from bondage.

Maybe what we don't know to be bondage. Deliver us from it. We think of Lazarus, you raised him from the dead, he was alive, and he shuffled along, but you said, loose him and let him go. Lord, it seems tonight your church is still bound, she's a little bit alive, but she's in bondage to all kinds of things, traditional interpretations of your word, traditional ideas, forms of service, everything, every fetter.

Like that mighty carrot who we used to speak of at school, Gulliver's Travels, that monster, that little tiny threads, so many of them, they held him down. Lord, we need to break loose, and break out, and go forth in your holy name.

We bless you for our freedom tonight, we don't take it for granted. We think of the suffering church again tonight. Some that have not for years been to a place of fellowship, folk in Russia and China.

We think of another day of raping for Afghanistan, and the nations of the world look on and do nothing. It stupefies us. We don't understand it. But Lord, we bless you that everything is in your hands, you're a sovereign God.

And Lord, we love you tonight. We want to worship you tonight. We want to give you adoration and give you praise, in Jesus' name. Thank you. Be seated. I want us to look just for a moment at one of the best known chapters in the Bible, and it's a kind of jumping off board.

The gospel, again, is recorded by John, or Saint John, whenever he got sanctified, I don't know. But there we are. The gospel recorded by John. Over the years I've looked in many commentaries, or commentaries, whichever way you like to say it.

And almost every one of them, without exception, take notice, in John chapter 3, there are three musts. Even the mighty Mr. Pink says there are three musts. He needs to pink it, think again. Because there are four musts in the chapter.

John chapter 3. In verse 7, Jesus says, Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again. That's the must of salvation. Go down to 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

I take that to be the must of sacrifice. Then verse 30. The great Irish evangelist, I've mentioned him often, W. P. Nicholson, whenever he signed a letter, he always signed it W. P. Nicholson. And then underneath he put John 3, verse 30.

Because you've got a must here. He must increase. And then the fourth must, I must decrease. And that's the whole secret of the Christian life. He constantly on the increase, and we constantly on the decrease.

Now let's go back into the gospel as recorded by St. Luke. Again in chapter 3. Now we've just mentioned the statement there by John, which is John of course, John the Baptist, he must increase, and I must decrease.

Look at just the first verse in Luke chapter 3. In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, Herod the governor, Herod being the Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip the Tetrarch of Trachonitis, Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene, Ananias and Caiaphas being the high priests, came the son, the priest, the word of the God came unto John of Zacharias, the son of John of Zacharias in the wilderness.

I read those because, you see all those Tetrarchs, what do they mean to you? They're about as refreshing as a mouthful of sand, aren't they? What do you care who the Tetrarchs were? That's not the point.

The point is there were two high priests, which was totally illegal in Israel, but there were two high priests there. Now I mention this amazing character again. As I said, I don't think Christians should have idols, but I think it's permissible to have heroes.

I'm sure I'm nobody's hero, but there are heroes. My number one hero is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two hero, the Apostle Paul. Number three hero, John the Baptist. John the Baptist always reminds me of the man who said, all my advantages are against me.

When does he come? He comes between the Testaments, between Malachi and Matthew. Again, a period of 400 years. The nation had been invaded. He came at the very worst hour, speaking naturally, humanly.

The whole nation was in bondage. They were paying excessive taxes. They had no freedom whatever. Not only had they bondage, but also they were in bondage to a corrupt priesthood. And in that critical moment, God raised up a man.

We should have gone to chapter 3 again. Go back a moment, please. Chapter 3, and it says in the end of verse 2, John the son of Zacharias came in the wilderness. It says later, he was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth.

But if you go into the Gospel recorded by Matthew, it says about that wilderness that Jesus was in that wilderness and it was filled with wild beasts. Now, I wish there'd been more details. I don't have them.

Nobody does. I wonder, when did this man go in the wilderness? I don't have a clue. I'll tell you, he was one of the most remarkable men in history. And I know that the whole nation was blind. Step now, please, back to chapter 1.

Remember, this man comes in a period of 400 years of darkness without any prophetic light, 400 years of stillness without any prophetic voice. What did he have? Well, brother, if it's not bad English, he had less than nothing.

He suddenly appears in the wilderness. Dear Lord, you don't start a cruise, a campaign in a wilderness, do you? Because it says when Jesus was in the wilderness, the same wilderness, and I think maybe at the very same time that there in the wildness of the wilderness, John had something very remarkable.

What did he have? Well, you couldn't guess, because you can't think as I think, fortunately for you. He had a Bible school. In a wilderness? Yes. Do you know, there's no rock and, I mean, there's no music.

John Baptist comes, he has no halo on his head. He stays in that wilderness, as far as we know, maybe for nearly 30 years. And he never got discouraged. As I say, he's not following a pillar of fire by night, or a pillar of cloud by day.

He has the whole nation against him. The priests hate the very sight of him. But I'll prove to you the blindness of these priests. If you look in chapter 1, it says in verse 67, just to kind of telescope the thing a bit, his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied.

What did he prophesy? Here, do you wonder Jesus says of this man, he's one of the most, he's the most unique man in the world, why? His father was filled with the Holy Ghost, his mother was filled with the Holy Ghost, his priest was filled with the Ghost.

It says of him what it doesn't say of another being in the whole divine record. He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He has the backing of the Holy Father, a Holy Mother. He had a prayer group behind him.

An old lady, a hundred years of age had prayed for his coming. Over and over and over she read Isaiah chapter 40. The sign you know that Jesus is near, is a man called John Baptist will come. And he'll cry, every valley shall be exalted, every hill shall be brought down.

Maybe that's metaphorically. Every high mountain, the powers of Rome shall be brought down. Every valley which is way down there, when religion is dead, the priests were done. People went to church, their altars had sacrifices, but no fire ever fell.

They had a remarkable priesthood, but their preaching was the letter that killed. They never had a prophet. And this man shut away in the wilderness. Look what it says in this second, pardon me, first chapter again.

I read the verse 67. His father was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied. Look at verse 74. He will grant to us that being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of the life.

And our child shall be called the prophet of the highest. Dear me, missed it. He's got the greatest child ever born. He's the prophet of the most high God. Why doesn't he put a chair outside the temple and put his son there?

Or in the temple and charge a fee to see him. This is the most remarkable child born before Jesus comes. And his daddy and mommy don't do anything. They don't spoil him and adulate him. He's raised in poverty.

There's not very much for the priests in those days. He shall be called the prophet of the most high God. Thou shalt go before the face to repair his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercies of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

It's death everywhere. What's he doing there? I'll tell you what. Nobody ever mistook the preaching of this amazing man. Skip over to chapter 3 for a moment. In verse 4 of chapter 3 it says,. He is a voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

You know, again, he had a school of the prophets. I used to think this man was alone. Boy, I'd have loved to have gone to that school. I don't know how long they went. But how in God's name would you live with a man who's blazing from head to foot?

He's surrounded with death. He looks to the left. There's the Dead Sea. He looks in front of him and he's walking on the cinders that were once Sodom and Gomorrah. There's death there. There's death beneath him.

The priesthood's dead around him. And they listen to this man, this God-ignited man. His tongue was sharper than the sting of a scorpion. Again, what did he have? He had no Bible. Dear God, how little we do with it.

I'm almost nervous sometimes to pick up this, dear brother. I've got every word God Almighty wants to say from now till Jesus comes. What have I done with it? Again, I ask you, what did those people do with Hebrews 11?

Subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions. And they didn't have what we have, Brother Bracey. They had a very limited concept. It was passed from mouth to mouth. John Baptist had no Bible.

He couldn't afford to pay the scribes who wrote every word of the Old Testament out. He couldn't carry those big rolls with him when there were wild beasts around. I imagine this fellow praying at night.

I imagine him hollowing. Behold! And there behind the trees alone, there's a person called Jesus Christ who's waiting to step up into the place of authority when this man has pulled down the hills and filled in the valleys.

He has no organization. He has no financial backing. He has no choir. He has no halo. What does he have? He has a word from God. And neither earth nor hell nor the fear of the Romans nor anybody else could move him.

He led the most despicable chapter in the history of this people. I believe, what, between Matthew and Malachi you have the period of Maccabees. You have a period when the most awesome things happened.

You know, you've got to kind of push back into this thing a little bit. If I remember right, it was Ezra and Nehemiah that had raised and built what's called the Great Synagogue. They had 120 select priests.

Maybe typical of the 120 from the upper room. But these priests were dead whereas these had life. Herod was a trickster. Of course he belonged to the greatest empire in the world. Of course he got finances.

Of course he built Herod's Temple, the most glittering building in the world at that day. And then he sold the whole nation down the river. It was in that period, between 150 years before and up to the time that John Baptist came, there was a villain.

I don't know if you pronounce his name. I always call him Antio... What's his name? Antiochus Epiphanes. Is that right? Very close, thank you. I get a Z minus. I was so close. Antiochus Epiphanes, what did he do?

He corrupted the nation. Herod sold the nation. Antiochus Epiphanes came in and he got all of the priests. He even cut the throat of swine on the sacred altar. He put a statue of Jupiter where the altar of burnt offering had been.

He polluted everything. There wasn't a single glimmer of light for John the Baptist. He's nobody to lean on. And yet he doesn't waver. You may say a bit later, well he did waver. You know what we read tonight?

He says concerning Jesus, He must increase and I must decrease. You know what's difficult? Ask Brother Bracey, ask the young Spanish preacher there. Isn't it difficult to see somebody prosper when they can't preach as good as you?

That guy can't preach anywhere as good as me. And look what he does, look what he gets. They said, John, that man you talked about, he's stolen your crowns. Again I say, this man does not have any evidence of the supernatural.

He never raised the dead. Nobody ran after John the Baptist. Have mercy on my son, he's a lunatic. He didn't do that. He stuck there with his task. I'm to be a voice crying in the wilderness. And again I think he hollowed down that dusty road or that wilderness that he was in until the very powers of hell were afraid.

I think, I haven't read this, I haven't imagined, Jesus is somewhere in that same area amongst the wild beasts and he hears this voice of John and Jesus knows, John the Baptist may precede him. Here is the greatest child ever born before Jesus comes.

Born of a holy mother, born of a holy father, having a holy priest. And they all prophesied. Boy, I'd like to have been in their meetings, wouldn't you? I must have been alive. You know, our problem today is we have too many dead men giving out dead sermons to dead people.

I'll say it again, amen. I believe that with all my heart. Shall I go to John and say, you know, that man you talked about, oh, he's stolen your crowd. Even some of your disciples have left and they've gone to John.

You'll be amazed what he's doing. And John said, just slip back and ask him, say, Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another? You say he was weakening, he was wilting, and weakening, and wobbling.

No he wasn't, he was wondering. But why is he doubting? He isn't doubting. Why do we always put the worst construction on a thing? Why not put the best on it? I think he, before he gets it, remember this man's so lost in his gospel, he loses his head over the job.

Some of us won't lose an hour's sleep. So, he's so excited about presenting the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. He isn't intimidated. Every priest in the country hates his name. What do you think these disciples of his come in?

He's in the wilderness, he never left the wilderness. He was there until the day of his showing forth. And yet, the news got around, there's a strange man in the wilderness. You know, there are men hidden in the world today that other men are seeking out, I'm sure of that.

In this country, in other countries. They're hidden until the day of their showing forth. This man didn't need any financial backing. He didn't need to ride through the city on the back of a horse. People went after him.

Why? You never, never, ever again, you can't conceal a fire. Somebody came up to him and said, Hey John, I want to ask you some questions. And then they went back and told others. And young men began to leave their jobs.

And they went to the school of silence. You see, that's where we won't go. I'm writing to a man now. I'm going to do tomorrow anyhow. A few years ago, he was at the number one Baptist church in a certain city.

We had a crusade for him about 25 years ago. Tremendous man of God. He got into some trouble. Had to get divorced. And now he's hanging his head, and he's groaning and moaning. You know, I've missed my chance.

Maybe he did. But he's got a heart for God. He's, I'm seeking now, he said, God is going to raise up younger men. They're going to come with a super anointing for the last hour in which we live. And shake the kingdoms of this world.

I don't believe John was wilting and weakening at all. I believe he's trying to exact, Brother Bracey, I believe he's trying to get Jesus to make the confession before they chop his head off. Yes, I am the Son of God.

The confession that, was it Peter got out of him? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He wanted to hear Jesus say, Yes, I am the Son of God. I don't believe for a minute he was on his own behalf.

He was on behalf of Jesus, and on behalf of the people. That they wouldn't miss the opportunity. And yet you've got this man. God closets him away. In the darkness. In the loneliness. Was it, there's a famous preacher called, I don't know how to pronounce it.

C-U-Y-L-E-R. Have you read of him at all? Coyler, I think actually, he was American. And he said, you tell me how a Christian preacher spends his time, and I'll tell you what kind of man he is. You know, we don't have time.

I'm trying to write a book now I should have written ten years ago. 1951, we had the best crusade in Dr. Joseph's church. He'd had it in 25 years. I was planning to go around the world. Invitations all over the world.

Suddenly I'm in hospital. Bleeding. Suffering. Dr. Joseph at the bottom of the bed. Writers death. Why did this happen? He told me three months after I'd happened. But, I didn't stop. So the law put me off for two years.

No insurance. No income. Wife and three children. The other side of the world. And here I am lying in bed. My back broke me in three places. This leg in three pieces. Both my feet broken. I had seven breaks.

You can't go beyond that. That's a perfect number. So I stayed just with the seven breaks. And you know it was a tremendous time of teaching. The Lord graciously got to me. He couldn't get to me. I've been so busy, so active.

In the service of the Lord. But the good is the enemy of the best. He'll get. I tell these young fellas. Come watch it. You've got to stop somewhere. If you don't, he'll break your neck. He doesn't care where he'll have been.

Whether you have money or not. We had none. Boy, we were in a mess. But God is faithful. It's easy to stand there as we did tonight and sing. Great is thy faithfulness. There's a warm atmosphere. Everybody feels.

Tomorrow. When there's no supporting atmosphere. You're facing a bill this length. And all kinds of problems. That's the time when the test comes. Again, God gets this precious, wonderful man. Again, he comes in the most critical hour.

The nation had never been more downtrodden. Never had they such empty lips. Those preachers that they had. The people were never so intimidated. They were never so taxed. What did Jesus say? If a man stops you in the street, a Roman.

And says, carry that bundle a mile. Say, yes, sir. When you get to the limit. Say, do you mind if I carry it another mile? It'll faint. Usually turn around and spit on the soldier. And curse him. Jesus says, go a second mile.

Boy, there's not much second mile Christianity around anymore. We're exhausted after the first mile, mostly. And yet, Jesus teaches this precious man. In the silence. In the stillness. You know what the Bible says?

It says, be filled with the Spirit. It also says, be still and know that I'm God. And I'll tell you what. If he puts the stillness, you won't get out of it. It'll keep you as long as you want. You've learned your lesson.

But then there comes a showing forth. He's in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth. What precedent did he have? I don't know whether he heard people say, this is another Elijah that's come.

But Elijah, good night, only had three and a half years in silence. This man has six times that or seven times that span of years. And there he is. In loneliness. He's forgotten. I don't think he was irritated.

I don't think he was worried. He could say with the Psalmist, my times are in thy hands. Or Psalm 37, I waited patiently for the Lord. And then he moves out. He has the Roman army against him. He has the Greeks against him.

He has a solid wall of religion against him with the Jews. And he hates everything he sees around him. But he doesn't shake and quaver. And then he gets to say the greatest thing that's been said since creation.

Somewhere in a crowded place. And you know what it says? He said of Jesus what? Behold the Lamb of God. He says something before that that really stood me today. He said, I didn't know who he was. I never met him.

I've often wondered, you know, Jesus went up to the temple at twelve years of age. Well, Zacharias and Elizabeth, I think would go with him because they were relatives. And maybe John Baptist was there.

Like these two little fellows here. John Baptist there and little Jesus here in the temple. What happened? I don't know. Maybe that's where they parted company. Yet there came a day. And we don't think of this.

A day when John Baptist's mother gave him a hug. She said, son, I know you're going. This is it. And she's not going to see him alive again maybe. That's the test. And John goes in the wilderness that way.

And Jesus goes in the wilderness that way. And he said, I did not know him. But the Lord said, you see, what held him fast? He'd had a vision. When you see something descending like a dove, that's the one.

And you declare him to be the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. I believe all hell shook. Every foundation in hell shook. Immediately John Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God. Every demon knew that there was a tag on him.

He was tagged for death. Every angel rejoiced. Every cherubim sang louder than ever. This is all history is going to change right here. Well, we should have the same ecstasy. Anyhow, the world's depressed and dark.

And it's about as vile as it can be right now. And we seem to have a stagnant religion. And a crippled priesthood. And hardly any voices around. And God's going to get men that proclaim like this man proclaimed.

What is he to lose? Again, he has no credentials. Nobody ordained him, thank the Lord. He had no Bibles. He had no hymn books. He had no material support. He had no house, as far as I know. He's just got about everything's excellently nothing.

You know, it's hard to get to that place where we have nothing. No confidence in the flesh. No confidence in systems. Just believing that somehow almighty God is going to break through and do some new thing.

And he's going to do that. I'll tell you I know because I really believe it. I got a book this week. It's not on loan. The title is... The fellow who wrote it, Colin Whittaker, is a big shot in the Assemblies of God in England.

It's called The Seven Pentecostal Pioneers. So I looked in it right at my favorite character, a little Welshman. His name is Stephen Jeffreys. Remember, England is stagnant. And remember this, please.

Every time there's, if I may use the word cautiously and kindly, every time there's an outbreak of tongues, what is it, to get a church built? No, the Word of God says tongues is for what? A sign for who?

For the unbelievers. So in an outbreak of tongues in 1912, what happened? 1914, war came that damaged and devastated Europe. 1927, here's this little guy comes up. A tiny little unpretentious Welshman.

I don't think he ever went to Bible school. The only thing that he did wrong, as far as I know, he bought a dog collar so he'd look like a preacher. That's a terrible thing. He'd look more like a dog.

But anyhow, here's a man without money. Listen to this. This is 1927. He went to Bishop Auckland. That's a city in Durham. What did he do? He rented a town hall. Just a handful of people started. There was only a handful, about a dozen Pentecostals in the whole area.

But then hundreds of people began to come. A woman called Mrs. Wilson, went to a meeting. She came home late at night. Her husband says, where have you been? I've been to a religious summit. Till this hour?

What kept you till this hour? She said, well, you know the girl in town, the blind girl, Celia Brown? What's she got to do with you being out late at night? Well, I'll tell you this. What did you say about it?

She's a blind girl. Well, she's not blind. What do you mean she's not blind? I was in a meeting tonight. A man put his hand on and spoke like that, and her eyes came. The brother chimes in. He says, everybody in town knows she has no eyes.

She didn't have even little beads there. She had empty sockets. And little George, no, George was his brother. He wasn't there at the time. Stephen put his hand on those blind sockets, emptied them. And immediately two beautiful blue eyes came in her head.

What do you think that is? Everybody went crazy. Englishmen don't go crazy. Only Americans get excited. Boy, they threw their hats in the air and their handbooks. And remember, there were drawing crowds of over 2 ,000 a night.

And nobody had an automobile. You either had to walk or stand up for a streetcar. And you couldn't get on a streetcar. It was filled in two minutes. And they tramped and tramped. This is what it says a bit further.

The vicar of war, that's a distinguished Church of England minister who had a master's degree, which is a pretty high degree in England. He saw the difference in this girl. He'd heard about her, and he followed up the situation.

He said, I've seen and talked with her on several occasions. Each time her eyes had slightly grown in size and ability. She could count numbers. Stephen saw many blind people receive their sight in his meeting over the years.

That was the first and only one of one who was born totally blind. Well, the miracles went on. People came. The building was large. But they turned away 2 ,000 people. The building was packed to suffocation.

Listen, during two weeks, 964 people were born again. How do you know? Every one of the 964, when they said, yes, I want to be saved. Go in the back room, dear brother Bracey. Every one of them was personally dealt with.

If it took till 2 or 3 in the morning. Dear God, you don't abandon a baby as soon as it's born, do you? They knelt there. They prayed there. People going home in the early morning, tired out, bent down with tiredness.

Speaking to people, leading them from scripture to scripture. They had to get an assurance before ever they were allowed to leave the altar. I know that I've passed from death unto life. My burden has gone.

My guilt has gone. My condemnation has gone. My darkness has gone. I feel joy. I feel free. I'm released. So this goes on. It says some nights, Stephen Jeffries came on the platform while the people were singing.

He was a very strong man and he was very happy. He danced on the platform. Fancy doing that in England. You could get shot for doing that. And the pianist stroked up a song we used to sing. You remember the song we used to sing, Give Me Oil In My Lamp?

They were singing. You're going in Sears Roebucks and somebody says, Well, what do you want? I want this dress. Give me oil in my lamp. Keep me burning. And all the shops sang it. Going down the streets, people sang.

Football matches. People struck up Give Me Oil In My Lamp. All over London they were going around singing and singing and singing. Magnifying God. People came to meetings at night. And as soon as the meeting was over, they walked around the building and stood at the door.