Someone's Knocking at the Door — David Wilkerson

Someone’s Knocking at the Door

The message tonight that the Lord put in my heart, someone's knocking at your door. I see people looking at your house door. I said that people were looking at the door over here. Someone's knocking at your door.

Christian, will you pray? I've seen some people walk in right off the streets here tonight. You folks that have walked in here tonight, maybe you haven't been in church, some of you, we had about five or six who've been sleeping down at the Port Authority bus station over here.

I want you to know you're welcome here. And I want you to know already because of the faithful work of some of you, we're taking one boy into Teen Challenge now. We're trying to make provisions for others.

And God has done a work. There's been a lot of seed sowing. And I'm going to preach a message you'll understand. You'll not be able to leave here tonight saying that was too deep for me. I didn't understand it.

But first I want everybody, maybe some of you have never been in a meeting like this. You saw people raise their hands. You saw clapping and you felt a little strange. You're going to feel even more strange because the Holy Spirit, when he comes with the word, it's like a hammer and you feel a knife inside.

He's trying to fill that emptiness, but that's the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And you'll feel it. You'll know it tonight because the Holy Spirit's here. We've got a lot of praying people who love and care about you.

And then at the end I'm going to give an invitation, give you a chance to open your heart, and we'll take you to another room where we'll minister to you again. And you can give your life to Christ. Now, you may sit there and say, David, preach what you want.

I don't need it. Well, you'd be surprised how you'll change your mind when the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. It is a bad place. Heavenly Father, I pray for the Holy Spirit to come down tonight and in your precious loving way that you would show people they need Holy Spirit.

I need you tonight more than I've ever needed you in all my lifetime. This is the first evangelistic message, Lord, strictly for the lost and sinners that we've preached here, that I've preached in this place.

But it's the beginning, Lord, of many messages that will come forth right here from where I stand. Many, many souls will be saved. Many tears will be shed. Many lives will be changed in this house. Lord, thank you for having planted Times Square Church.

Thank you already for those who've been saved from their sins. Now, Lord, send the Holy Spirit in a mighty way. Break through all the barriers. Break through everything in Jesus' name. Amen. If you have the Bible, you can turn to Revelation, the first chapter, and just leave the book of Revelation open in your lap.

Some of you walked in here. You didn't bring a Bible. In fact, you didn't even anticipate being in a church tonight. But here you are. So I'll make it simple. You don't even have to have your Bible, because I'll put it for you, and I'll make it very easy.

Christ’s Letter to the Churches

Now, in the book of Revelation, and listen closely, in the book of Revelation, God's writing a letter. He's writing a letter to anyone who's ever been in any church in their lifetime. If you've ever been in a church in your lifetime, this letter is for you.

Now, if you don't want God, if you hate Him, if you turn your back on God and say, I'm here just out of curiosity, I don't want God. Anything you say, the letter is not for you. It has nothing to say to you.

But if you're sitting here tonight, even though you're cold and hard and you don't even understand, God has written a letter, and He gave it to Jesus, and it's such an important letter that Jesus dictated it to a prophet named John.

And John was on an island. He was there because he had been prophesying the gospel of Jesus, and the leadership, the hierarchy of the church threw him under the side and locked him up, and Jesus appears to him.

And when Jesus appeared to John, the letter was so important to anyone who's ever been to a church. In fact, the letter is written to the churches. That's exactly what it's written. What I'll show you, write it in a book.

Jesus appears to John. And he says, I'm going to show you something. I'm going to give you a letter from the heart of God, and I want you to write it down and send it to all the churches. And it's to the times, it's to you, and it's to me.

And Jesus appears, and John used to lay his head on his bosom, but now he doesn't recognize Jesus because Jesus is coming now in His holiness. And he's standing in front of John, and John doesn't even recognize him.

The Bible says that he had a robe on, and he had a burden belt, or a girdle, a burden belt around him. That's his holiness. And the Bible said his hair was white like milk, and his eyes were flames of fire, just like lightning shooting.

He could see right through you. And the eyes of Jesus are here tonight too, and he just pierces and goes right through you. When Jesus comes to a meeting, like He's been here tonight and is here now when I'm preaching, it looks like, and it's silent when the preacher's preaching, he's looking right through you.

He sees everything that's inside of you, and it's almost like, who told him about me? Who told him how I'm living? That use of his flaming eyes, and John saw it. And the Bible says John felt like a dead man at his feet.

And John said, I fainted, I couldn't handle it. It was awesome. And the voice came and said, stand up, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He said, I have the keys of life and death. Everything I write to you, everything I said to you, write it down and send it to the churches.

And then he said, I have the keys of life and death. He said, this message is a life and death message. Now, the very fact that it's life and death, and I'm giving you this unto the Holy Spirit, what I'm giving to you is just as much life and death as the message when it was first given.

It's a life and death message. And in fact, your life may depend on how you respond to what God said in this letter. Now, this letter that was given by Jesus to John on this island includes seven messages.

It's one letter with seven messages to seven classes of people. And if you believe in the truth of God's word, then you're going to understand something about yourself tonight. In fact, I want to show you these seven different classes of people that Jesus is talking to.

Backsliders and the Call to Return to First Love

And it's all here. You don't have to turn to it. You Christians are familiar with it. First of all, there's a class called backsliders. Have you ever heard of backsliders? That's someone who once used to love the Lord, and now their heart has grown cold.

The Bible says they've left their first love. We've been preaching on these streets in the summertime, and we've met so many people that come up to us and they say, I used to go to church, I used to love the Lord, some of them were preachers.

And now something's happened to them, the city got to them, problems got to them, and now they're not walking with Jesus. The Bible says they left their first love. And so Jesus wrote this letter from the heart of God, and all through the letter, the whole message is repent or else.

Repent or else. And then it tells you what that or else is. And I'm going to tell you what that is tonight, because I'm giving you just what Jesus said. Now, it's not that I'm a great preacher, it's just that I believe God wants to make it so simple that if you were a child, you can't stand on the judgment day before Jesus and say, I went to church, but I didn't understand the preachers.

They preached the message I didn't understand. You won't be able to say that after tonight. You see, some of you heard Timmy Swaggart on television, or you've heard Billy Graham, and you've heard the truth.

And maybe there was a time that you even went to church, you were involved, you loved Jesus, you loved the word of God, and you're sitting here tonight and your heart is cold. It's called backsliding.

And the Holy Spirit in this letter says, repent or else I will remove even the remaining love. I'll take away what you already have, that little bit you have left. Repent or you will completely grow cold and hard toward me.

And that's the first message in this letter. Then there's another group of people here. In fact, those are called the Ephesian class of people. He names them after churches in Asia. There's another group called the poor suffering believers.

Faithfulness Amid Blasphemy and Persecution

And this is a group they call the Smyrna class. And these are people who have been tested and tried, and they're working among blasphemers. They live and walk among blasphemers. Now, I know in this city, some of you work among those kind of people.

You go to a job and you almost hate going to work. Because everybody around you is cursing. Everybody around you has an evil mouth. They talk evil. And I see that everywhere I go. I've heard so many Christians here in New York City.

It's not just New York, but it's everywhere else. How do you live clean in the midst of all this? But Jesus has written a word of encouragement to all of these people. And he says, don't be afraid in the midst of all this blasphemy.

When everybody around you has gone crazy. Everybody around you is blaspheming in the name of the Lord. Has there ever been a time you've heard so much cursing? I have never in my lifetime heard so many four-letter words.

These sexual four-letter words. Have you ever heard a time in taxi camps, on subways, everywhere you go, that's all you hear? You hear it from businessmen. Some people can't even put four hands together without using these.

And it's almost like you feel dirty going to work or just going in a cab going anywhere. And I don't know anymore. I'm saying, hey, that's my Jesus you're talking about when they take God's name in vain.

But you see, the Lord's concerned about people who have to work in that way. He wrote a letter to this class of people. He said, don't be afraid. Stay true. Be different. Even if they throw you in jail for what you believe, be faithful to death.

Until you die, don't quit. Stay true and I'll be with you. That's part of this letter. And I'm going through these pretty quickly because I want to get to the last class because that's where most sinners are tonight.

Compromise and Worldly Mixture in the Church

There's another group called the compromisers, and he called that the programist class of people. These are those who use the name of Jesus, and they don't deny the faith the Bible says, but there's mixture in them.

And you see this in the church today. So many preachers bringing in mixture to the church. Entertainment. I don't want to go to church where there's entertainment. Now, we heard some lively music, but they were not entertainers here tonight.

These are young men and women who seek the face of God and those unction anointing of the Holy Spirit. I don't want to go to church where there's rock and roll. I don't want to be a part of this mixture that's coming into the church.

The prophet said, you bring strangers into my house. And I don't want anything to do with that kind of mixture. I don't want anything to do. And he said, repent or else I will come quickly and I'll fight against you with the sword of my mouth.

And you know, I've taken a stand against the so-called Christian rock and roll that's creeping into the church. And really, if you're here tonight, and you go to discos and you go to rock and roll, if you're a sinner, tell me the truth.

Do you want to hear that same kind of music in church? Or do you want to come to church and hear music that touches your heart and moves you towards Jesus? Makes you want to see God. And I'll tell you, most Christians or sinners know the difference.

They're convinced, hey, I've got that in the world. Why would I come into church and get a cheap copy of it? And God says, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to raise up a message against that kind of thing.

And I'm going to prosecute and harass that kind of thing. That mixture. And I know Jimmy Swagger takes a stand. I mean, he thunders against all of that kind of strangeness bringing into the church. I'd do the same thing.

I don't think I'd do as good a job as Jimmy Swagger does. But once I get started, I get it said. And I feel like I'm about to say it again. But, you know, I took a stand recently against some of that stuff.

And I didn't name the man, but I named his song. And so everybody knew who he was. And so he's going around the country saying, why are these prophets of God, why are these preachers persecuting us? And everywhere I go now, these rock and rollers are saying, why are you persecuting us?

And the prosperity preachers, why are you persecuting us? Well, the Bible says, that's exactly what God says to the compromisers. Repent or else I'll come quick and I'll fight against you with the sword in my mouth.

I'll fight you. And God's going to fight it. I'm not in a fighting spirit. I'm not mad at people. I'm mad at the devil. I'm mad at the blindness that people and preachers can allow it. You hear somebody say, dear Lord, where's the discernment?

Where's the discernment? And God is raising up more and more preachers with a holy backbone to stand up against this kind of thing, the compromisers, the pergamos kind of people. And that's what God's doing now.

He's raising up a strong, strong message with men of God who don't compromise, who are not afraid. And God says, don't you be afraid or I'll confront you before their faces. Hallelujah. And I thank God for that kind of backbone.

And I hope God's put that backbone in you. Hallelujah. Then there's another class called the proud ones. And that's the Thyatira class of people. And here's the kind of people. They're kind. They'll do anything.

They're full of goodwill. They're full of charity. And I meet a lot of people like this. They say, hey, look, I'm as good as any Christian. And really, you see them. They smile. They're very kind. I know so many people like this class here.

They're called the Thyatira class. That was a church in Asia. And they will give anything they have to help you. I mean, they'll reach in their pocket. They'll go out of their way. But there's a kind of a pride in them.

The Bible says they're very proud. In fact, it's called a Jezebel spirit. They have a Jezebel spirit. And Jezebel was that proud, arrogant woman who appeared to be one thing in public, but she was a seducer in private.

Pride, Self-Righteousness, and the Pharisee’s Heart

And you can be sitting here tonight and say, I really don't believe I need any more than I have because I'm good. I'm really good. And you are. People like to be around you. You're not like those around you.

You're not like the drug pushers. You're not like the alcoholics. You're a good person. And you know that because you look at them and you see and you say, hey, I'm glad I'm not like that. But you see, the Bible would classify you as a Pharisee because the Pharisee said the same thing.

He looked at himself and the Pharisees were good. They went about doing good and they kept the law and they'd go to church and they would get up and say, I thank God that I'm not like all of these dirty filthy sinners around.

A lot of churches are full of these guys. But then there was a man called the publican, the tax collector. He went to church and he wouldn't even hold up his head. He said, I'm just a dirty filthy sinner.

And the Bible said he'd smite his breast. And he said, I'm not worthy. And that's the one that God looked to. God overlooks all these proud and He goes to the one. If you're here tonight, you've got that kind of pride in you.

God can't break that until you humble yourself before Him. And that's the Thyrotoric. And God says, I give you space to repent. I'm going to give you time. I'll give you some time to repent. He said, you have not known the depths of Satan.

You've not gone down to the gutter. You're a good man. You're a good woman. You've not gone down. But God says, you've got to be broken. Just like the potter that breaks the clay to make it over into a vessel, you've got to be broken.

And God's going to do that tonight for some of you. He's going to break your spirit because there's been pride there. Then there's a fifth class of people, and He called them the Sardis class of people.

Spiritual Deadness and Strengthening What Remains

And those are the ones who are just about to give up. They've tried so hard, but the enemies come in. You have a name that you live, but you're really dead. You have a name that you live, but you're really dead.

So He said, strengthen what remains. What's ready to die. He says, hold on. Repent. And there are some of you. Look at me now, everyone in the building. There are some of you here tonight. You have fought so hard, and the enemies come in to throw everything against you, trying to destroy you.

And this letter is for you. He says, strengthen what is left. Strengthen it. Move on. Don't be afraid. And then, of course, the sixth class of people. That's the Philadelphia class of people. These are the ones that stayed holy, stayed pure.

While everyone around them was backsliding, people were turning to sin and iniquity. You've kept my word, God said. You've not denied my name. So I'll keep you in the time of temptation. Listen, Christian, that's why I think it's so important that sinners be able to look at Christians and see an example.

Because they're encouraged that if God can keep you, He can keep me. He said, God said, I'm going to keep you because you kept my word when everybody else was failing. Now, I've just given you six classes of people to which this letter was written.

The Laodicean Last-Day Christian

Now, I want to get to the heart of my message now. And I want to zero in on the class of people that are going to be living in the last days. We are living in the last days. And the last day class of people, the Lord Jesus called Laodiceans.

And this strictly means the last day people. And the last day people are those that are here in this building tonight. Do you know we're all last day people? Something's about to happen in this world.

The Lord said He's going to shake everything that can be shaken. Do you know the news right now says that everything is okay? That there's the least unemployment in all of history, in American history.

The stock market is booming. But you know, all the things that God is going to do is going to come out of the Middle East. And that war will soon break out and it will flash out. The Bible said there's going to come a time that men are going to be so shaken by what they see happen to this earth, their hearts are going to fail them for fear of watching those things that are coming upon the earth.

You know, you wake up one day like we did the other day. We've got friends here from California. And you hear of an earthquake. And then today they had another five-point earthquake. You wake up one day and the news is there.

You don't expect it. And He said at the time you least expect it, then it's... This is what I see. Now, if you're here tonight, you say, Brother David, I'm not a Christian. I don't claim to be a Christian.

But I'm telling you right now, God has told us all about you in the Word. He's exposed it. And I want to see if you'll be honest enough to accept God's diagnosis of where you are. And as I speak now, it'll be...

I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not a psychologist. But you're going to see like a mirror. You're going to look at yourself and you're going to hear something from God's Word now. All right. Who are these Laodiceans?

Who are these people that are going to appear? A whole class of people that are going to suddenly appear on the last day. And God describes in this letter... In fact, He warns us what they're going to be like.

Let's find out if you're a Laodicean class. If you belong to this class of people. There are some Christians that are in this class also. First of all, the Bible says in this letter... It's in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd chapter.

Mostly the 2nd, 3rd chapter of Revelation. You don't need to turn there, but I'll be quoting these scriptures for you. First of all, they are afraid, the scripture says, to get too religious. Yet they don't want to be all bad.

The Bible says they're neither hot. They're not completely cold. But they're what? They are lukewarm. They don't want to be too religious. They don't want to be too bad. They want to be somewhere in the middle.

And they look at Christians and they'll say, It's okay for you. I see that everywhere I go. It's okay for you to be a fanatic. It's alright for you to talk about Jesus. You're different. I can tell there's something about you that's just a little different.

You smile when others don't. You're kind when others are not. And I see something different about you. I feel something different about you. And that's alright for you, but it's not for me. I don't need it because I'm really not bad.

And it's probably true you're probably a notch higher than those around you. There's no question about that. But God says, All your good works are filthy rags in my sight. You can be the best person on the face of the earth and die and go to hell.

You can die and go to hell because you've never really heard the voice of Jesus speak to your heart. You've never received His word. The Bible says that, and you must understand, I believe this, that a junkie, a junkie out in the street, stands a better chance of entering the kingdom of God than somebody who wants to be right down the middle.

Not too religious. Not too sinful. To be able to go home and say, I'm not a junkie. I don't push drugs. I'm not an alcoholic. But I don't want to be over-religious. I don't want to be orbital. I don't want to have to be reading the Bible all the time.

I don't want to have to be praying. I just want to be myself. I don't want to hurt anybody. But let me tell you what God sees. He sees your heart. He looks at your heart, and no matter how good you may be, let me examine your heart now.

The Wicked Heart That Ignores God

Here's what the Bible says. Know what I say. The Bible says, your heart is wicked if God is not in all your thoughts. Your heart is a wicked heart. The wicked, through the pride of his appearance, will not seek after God.

God is not in all of his thoughts. That's Psalms 10 .4. You see, this person worries what people say. They keep up their appearance for appearance sake. The wicked, through the pride of his appearance, he won't give up his macho appearance.

He won't give up his cool. He'll be numbered among the fanatics. He sees people coming into Times Square, or rather, Times Square Church. They see them coming in and say, good for you, but that's not for me.

And you know what's in his thoughts? Money, spirits, almost anything, but no God. And you know, the Bible says, a man's heart is wicked if they go all day long into waking hours, and they never give a thought to God.

I ask you, when you get up in the morning, what's on? I'm talking to the sinners. I'm talking to those who are not walking with Jesus. What do you think about? What about breakfast time and the rest of the day?

What about lunch time, and what about the rest of the day? You've got those 15, 16 hours that you're awake. Forget when you're sleeping. When you're awake, do you ever think of God? You say, well, I'm a good man.

I don't need to be religious. I'm a good woman. But the Bible says, your heart is wicked. Your heart is wicked if God is not in your thoughts. And the Bible says, God is not in their thoughts all the day long.

They spend a whole day, they go day after day, week after week, and God's not in their thoughts. And some of you here tonight, and you're being forced to have God in your thoughts because you're in the presence of God.

And you must face God now. And maybe for the first time in weeks or months, God is face to face with you. And you can't think about your girlfriend, your boyfriend, or money, or sex, or anything else, or sports.

You can't think about the Giants. You can't think about the Mets. You've got to think about God because He's facing you right now. The Bible says, you have a wicked heart if you're not thinking about God.

And one thing that most Christians do is that in every waking moment, God's in his thoughts. You say, is that possible? Yes, every time. Sure, I think of other things. But as soon as I get away from it, I automatically, like a magnet, I'm pulled right back to my Heavenly Father.

I think about Him all the day long. I wake up with Him on my mind. You say, you say, that's crazy? No, you may not understand that, but that's what gives you strength. That's what gives you power. Because He's always there on your fight.

Hallelujah. The Bible says, your heart is evil. You've got a wicked heart if you in private mock the righteous people. If you mock them, the Bible says, the wicked privately shoot at the upright at heart.

They shoot at them in their mind. They shoot these thoughts. And they're real nice to their face and say, hey, hey, some of them say, God bless you. But in their minds, they're shooting these thoughts.

All Christians are hypocrites. I don't know a good one. I don't know anybody that is really honest. All television evangelists are crooks. Every preacher is after money. Inside he's laughing, he's poking fun.

And the Bible said, that's the worst kind of evil heart. The worst kind of evil heart privately in your imagination. You are mocking, ridiculing Christians. And by the way, these young men that are here, they used to be, you know, you used to call people holy rollers, didn't you?

You used to make fun of them, crazy Christians. Then you became one of them. That's the story. Everyone that's serving Jesus now has gone through that. The Bible says, you've got a wicked heart if you don't have the fear of God in it.

Your heart's wicked. Listen, the wicked flatters himself in his own eyes. There's no fear of God before his eyes. There's no fear of God in his heart. They don't have faith. Listen, you know, God brought this Scripture to me the first time.

You write it down. It's Deuteronomy 29 .19. Write it down. But look this way, please. The Bible warns that you can have peace in your heart. I used to think that if you had sin in your heart, if you had a wicked heart, and I used to go around witnessing to people, come to Jesus, He'll give you peace.

Well, He does. But so does the devil. Just Deuteronomy 29. Peace, peace. Though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart, I will have peace. And you can be sitting here right now and say, David, I've got peace.

I've got peace in my heart. I'm not afraid of God. I'm not afraid of going to hell. I'm not afraid of anything. And the Bible said that's what a wicked man says to his heart. He flatters himself that he's alright.

He flatters himself. I'm going to make it. You know what? You know what he does? He just puts God out of mind. Doesn't even think about God. And the Bible says they walk around and say, I have peace. Though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.

And I tell you right now, it's really not a peace, it's a stupor. It's just a blind stupor. It's like a drunk. When someone's drunk and he doesn't feel anything. I don't understand. I don't understand at all people who don't have the fear of God in their heart.

I don't understand walking the streets and seeing people dying in sin and then to hear about the power of God that changed their life and they don't want to accept it. I don't understand that kind of blindness.

I've never had that kind of blindness. I don't understand it. But it's a terrible kind of blindness and God wants to take that away from you tonight. And then the Bible says you've got a wicked heart.

If you look at Christians just to find sin in them to excuse your own sin. You look at Christians just to find fault in them so you can justify what you're doing. The Bible said the wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him.

In other words, seeks to get an excuse for the way he lives. Listen, if you want an excuse to not serve Jesus, you can look at me real close and if you look long enough you're going to find something that will give you a perfect alibi not to serve Jesus.

And you can look to every Christian in this building tonight and you can find an excuse. Now, I try to live as modestly as I know how. I don't own the place I live. I rent an apartment. And it's a nice apartment.

But you see, my heart is not after that. If I know my heart, I don't want the riches of this world. But you can look at me, you can look at anyone and say, hey, look, they're all hypocrites. And you keep looking and you keep looking and you're going to find something.

And that's the devil to try to keep you from Jesus. Well, if you want an excuse, you look at PTL. Because if it's in your heart and that's what the Bible said, you've got a wicked heart. If you're just looking at Christians to find hypocrites, you'll find them all over the country.

But I'll tell you what, for every hypocrite, I'll show you two that are still on fire for God and love Jesus and living true. You're just looking through the wrong eyes. You've got the wrong attitude.

And the tendency is to say, see, they're no better than I am. I need Jesus. Why do I need that? They're not living any different. No, it's true, there are a lot of hypocrites. It's true that you can look at a lot of Christians and you don't see Jesus in His power and fullness.

But that is not an excuse. Now, see, God says you've got a wicked heart if these things are in your heart, if these things are there at work. Now, secondly, and listen closely now, this Laodicean kind of person that's living in the last days is so consumed with making it, so consumed with money, life to him is just getting ahead.

The Deception of Wealth and the Search for Happiness

It's just getting ahead. It's a money madness. The Bible says very clearly, here it is, He says, I am rich, I'm increased with goods, and I'm in need of nothing. And the original Greek in that, it means expectations.

In other words, I expect to be rich, I expect to be increased with goods, and what they're saying is, I really don't need God, I don't need anything but more money. If you give me more money, if you give me a better job, if you let me make it, every need in my life will be met.

Now, that's the philosophy that's sweeping New York City and the country today. Give me enough money, and all my problems are solved. They say in their hearts, I'm going to be increased, I'm going to be rich, and I won't need anything else.

And that's what it's saying here in this letter. God's saying that. Jesus wrote that down. He said to John, you tell these people in the last days, you tell them there's going to be a class of people just like that.

Now, you tell me if there isn't a class of people like that today. Everywhere I go, it's an effort. I want to make it. Just let me make it and everything will be alright. And there's a money madness. And I'll tell you what, right now by the power of the Holy Ghost, I'm putting my finger on it because this letter from God is very clear.

There's a generation that thinks to themselves that money is the answer to everything. We were in Poland for Crusades, and that same thing was in Poland. We heard from thousands and thousands of Polish young people that came forward and many of them said, we've lived in poverty for so long.

There's drunkenness in Poland. I love the Polish people. I love Poland. We hope to go back in a year or two for Crusades again. We had over 11 ,000 receive Christ, came up weeping and praying, seeking God.

Many, many of them young people. And, you know, they were looking to America. They were looking for this flow of dollars. There was a kind of a saying going around. In fact, a comedian on radio and television said, the way to solve our problems, let's declare war on the United States and surrender the next day, let them send their dollars and take care of us.

Declare war on America, surrender, you know, then we can get the lend-lease and the aid that comes. And how shocked I was, even among some ministers, to believe that the American dollars would solve everything.

God's letter warns here, if you get hung up on making it, that's going to blind you to the reality. You're going to be spiritually poor. And God says in this letter, the most wretched people, He said, you're not going to know that you're wretched, that you're miserable, that you're poor, that you're blind, you're looking for the wrong reality, you're looking for the wrong thing to make you happy.

And I want you to know there are some things that money can not buy. I was talking to someone not too long ago, and in fact it was last summer, it was quite a while ago, last summer, and she lived up in Harlem.

And God bless her heart, she lived in one of the poorest areas. And she had a little light bulb that hung down in her crib to keep the rats away at night. And holes everywhere, and roaches, and you know if you've lived in New York here very long, so many, many apartments like that all over the city.